^•y 


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THE 


S  I  JM  P  L  E      FLOWER. 


■(  r- 


WITH   ALTERATIONS    AND    ADDITIONS, 
ADAPTING   IT   TO   THE   OENERAL  PROTESTANT   EPISCOPAL  BtTNDAY 

SCHOOL   UNION. 


"  She  had  pictured  to  herself  such  a  cotUige  as  she  had  seen  near 
her  father's  grouL.ls." 


NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  GEN.  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL 

SUNUAY    SCHOOL 

u  N  I  o  ri. 


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THE 

SIMPLE     FLOWER. 


"  These  sweet  little  flowers  thrive  every  v/here," 
said  Emma,  as  she  walked  with  her  mother  through 
the  pleasure  grounds  of  their  beautiful  residence, 
and  stopped  to  admire  the  modest  heart's-ease  peep- 
ing out  from  the  long  grass  on  a  shady  bank. 

"  They  do  indeed,  my  dear,"  replied  her  Mamma  ; 
"  and  they  furnish  us  with  a  lovely  emblem  of  that 
contentment  which  with  godliness  is  great  gain, 
which  knows  how  to  abound  and  how  to  suffer 
need;  and  can  glorify  the  Giver  of  all  good  under 
the  most  afflictive  dispensations." 

Mrs.  Merton  said  this  with  much  feeling,  and 
Emma  heard  her  sigh  as  she  concluded :  she  would 
have  sighed  also  if  she  had  known  thai  they  were 
about  to  leave  the  pleasant  scenes  of  her  childhood, 
and  to  exchange  the  wealth  to  which  they  had  long 
been  accustomed,  for  an  income  just  sufficient  to 
support  them  above  actual  want. 

Of  this  Emma  was  still  ignorant,  and  she  went 
on  praising  her  favorite  flower. 

"  See,  Mamma,  how  simple  and  pretty  it  looks  in 
this  retired  spot,  as  much  at  home  among  the  grass 
aad  moss  as  a  daisy  would  be :  and  yet  how  ele- 
gint  it  appears  in  the  flower  garden  j^onder,  border- 
ing the  beds,   and  sprmkled  up  and  down,  where 


4  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

the  gay  blossoms  grow,  with  its  colors  of  blue  and 
gold,  as  bright  as  the  fairest  among  tiiem.  O,  it 
thrives  every  where !" 

Mrs.  M.  Yes,  Emma,  it  will  flourish  in  every 
soil,  rich  and  poor;  and  it  will  adorn  every  station, 
high  and  low :  it  bears  transplanting  well,  and  en- 
dures the  change  of  seasons  better  than  any  flower 
I  am  acquainted  with.  So  that,  if  plants  were  capa- 
ble of  reason,  and  acted  from  its  dictates,  we  might 
say  this  little  shrub  fairly  merited  the  partiality 
with  which  you  regard  it. 

Emma  was  delighted  to  hear  her  choice  com- 
mended by  her  dear  Mamma;  she  gathered  one  of 
the  blossoms,  and  kissing  it  with  great  affection, 
tripped  along,  exclaiming  "  O,  my  pretty  heart's- 
ease,  how  I  do  love  you  !" 

The  next  morning  Emma  appeared  at  breakfast 
with  a  great  number  of  these  ilowers,  and  said  to 
her  Mother,  ^'  I  have  been  trying  to  iiad  two  of  them 
marked  exactly  ahke,  but  J  cannot — I  discover  some 
little  variety  in  every  one,  that  seems  to  distinguish 
it  from  its  fellows.     Is  not  that  odd,  Mamma?" 

M:s.  M.  Not  more  strange,  my  dear,  than  the 
difference  that  you  see  in  the  faces  of  your  ac- 
quaintance. There  are  many  hundred  millions  of 
iiuman  countenances  in  the  world,  and  probably 
not  two  among  them  that  perfectly  resemble  each 
other. 

"Well,"  said  En^ma,  "that  Drings  my  flower 
nearer  to  ourselves   in   its   character  j    and  I  am 


THE    SIMPLE   IFLOWEft.  5 

determined  to  rank  it  first  and  best  among  all  the 
flowers  of  the  garden." 

"  Take  care  you  do  not  become  too  partial,  Em- 
ma," replied  her  Mamma,  smiling ;  "  but  I  must 
confess  it  has  often  struck  me,  that  among  plants 
the  heart's-ease  is  what  the  children  of  God  are 
among  mankind." 

''  I  think  so  too,"  said  Emma,  "  for  the  children 
of  God  are  humble,  and  lov/ly,  and  contented,  and 
beautiful." 

"  In  their  lives  and  characters  certainly  beauti- 
ful," continued  Mrs.  Merton  ;  "and  their  works 
done  in  faith  and  humility,  with  their  sacrifices  of 
prayer  and  praise,  when  presented  through  the 
Saviour's  mediation,  ascend  as  a  sweet-smelling 
incense  before  the  Lord." 

"  Mamma,"  exclaimed  Emma  earnestly,  "  I  wish 
to  be  like  the  heart's-ease." 

Mrs.  M.  It  is  my  prayer  that  you  may  be  what 
we  are  describing,  my  child ;  but  without  the  grace 
of  God  you  cannot  become  so. 

Emma.  In  some  things,  Mamm^a,  I  am  even  now 
a  little  like— for  instance,  I  am  very  contented. 

Mrs.  M.  Have  you  met  vv^ith  any  temptation  to 
be  otherwise,  my  dear? 

Emma.  0  yes,  very  often.  I  have  suffered  a 
great  many  disappointments.  It  sometimes  rains 
hard  when  I  have  set  my  whole  heart  on  going  out ; 
and  I  see  several  things  that  I  should  like  very  much 
to  have,  but  cannot  get  them  ;  —  beside  you  know 
1* 


6  THE    SIMPLE    FLOTVER. 

rny  canary  bird  died  last  spring,  and  my  litt!e 
pnppy  was  lost,  and  the  gardener  pulled  up  my  moss- 
rose  tree.  Then  when  ra}^  new  bonnet  came  home, 
what  an  ugly  shape  it  had  !  and  I  must  w^ear  it  all 
the  summer  and  autumn.  I  assure  you,  Mamma, 
if  I  did  not  look  on  the  best  side  of  every  thing, 
and  try  to  be  very  contented,  I  should  be  a  most 
unhappy  little  girl — that  is,  I  don't  mean  to  praise 
my^ejf"' — seeing  her  mother  look  grave — "nor  to 
complain,  as  if  mine  was  a  hard  case  ;  but  I  am 
quite  sure  from  my  bearing  small  troubles  so  well, 
that  I  could  be  very  resigned  under  greater  mis- 
fortunes." 

Mrs.  M.  I  hope  we  shall  both  have  the  grace  of 
resignation  imparted  to  us,  Emma,  since  we  are 
about  to  suffer  adversity. 

"  Adversity.  Mamma  !  you  suffer  adversity  !  0,  I 
hope  not,  indeed" — and  she  ran  to  her  mother,  and 
looked  up  in  her  face  with  great  anxiety.  Mrs.  Mer- 
ton  kissed  her  affectionately  and  said,  '•  We  shall 
yet  have  much  to  be  very  thankful  for,  Emma  ;  food 
and  raiment,  and  a  comfortable  shelter  :  but  the 
mercantile  house  to  which  the  chief  part  of  my 
fortune  was  intrusted  has  failed,  and  we  miust  leave 
this  abode,  dismiss  our  servants,  and  retire  to  a  very 
humble  cottage,  such  as  the  widow  Smith  lives  in. 
Can  you  bear  transplanting  like  the  heart's-ease, 
Emma?" 

The  little  girl  was  too  much  confused  by  this 
unexpected  intelligence,  to  give  anv  answer.     She 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  ¥ 

looked  around  her  at  the  pleasant  room  in  which  she 
hnd  so  long  been  happy;  stole  a  glance  tliroughthe 
window  at  the  garden,  then  turned  her  eyes  upon 
her  mother,  and  began  to  cry. 

"  Those  tears  are  natural."  said  Mrs.  Merton, 
"  but  we  must  not  indulge  in  selfish  grief.  I  have 
a  painful  task  before  me,  to  break  these  tidings  to 
my  household,  who  have  served  me  so  faithfully, 
and  who  must  now  earn  tlieir  bread  elsewhere. 
Come,  Emma,  we  will  first  seek  for  comfort 
where  alone  it  is  to  be  found  ;  in  all  miseries  and 
distress,  it  is  the  best  wisdom  to  go  to  that  friend 
who  is  most  near,  most  willing,  and  most  able  to 
help  us ;  such  a  friend  is  God  :  and  then  in  the 
strength  that  will  be  given  us  from  above,  we  will 
make  the  necessary  preparations  for  leaving  this 
sweet  home.  Experience  will  teach  ns  this  great 
truth,  that  the  grace  of  an  Almighty  Saviour  alone 
can  triumph  over  all  troubles,  and  disappointments, 
and  adversities,  and  when  human  expectations  and 
human  aids  are  at  their  lowest  ebb,  can  roll  in  a 
tide  of  joy  which  shall  never  retire  or  fail  through- 
out eternity." 

They  went  to  Mrs.  Merton's  dressing  room,  and 
there  they  prayed  that  He  who  had  taught  them  to 
serve  him  in  prosperity,  would  keep  them  patient 
and  cheerful  in  adversity,  and  cause  all  things  to 
work  together  for  good  to  them.  The  servants 
were  then  informed  of  the  change  in  their  lady's 
circumstances,   thanked  for  their  fidelity,  and  ad- 


B  THE  SirviPLE  FLOWEfi. 

vised  to  seek  other  situations.  Emma  stood  by  he? 
mother's  side  with  downcast  eyes,  and  a  full  heart, 
while  each  of  the  domestics  in  turn  received  the 
thanks  and  admonitions  of  a  mistress,  who  in  her 
conduct  toward  them  had  never  forgotten  that  she 
likewise  had  a  Master  in  heaven  :  and  had  rendered 
to  them  what  was  just  and  equal,  caring  for  their 
souls,  and  watching  over  their  conduct  as  every 
real  Christian  master  or  mistress  will  do  toward 
all  who  are  brought  under  their  direction. 

By  giving  up  the  house  immediately  Mrs.  Merton 
was  enabled  to  oblige  the  person  into  whose  hands 
it  came  ;  and  having  formed  no  establishment  of  his 
own,  he  was  glad  to  continue  the  servants  in  it;  so 
that  Emma  and  her  Mamma,  and  one  young  girl, 
an  orphan,  who  was  kept  to  do  the  v/ork  of  the 
cottage  to  which  they  v/ere  going,  prepared  to  leave 
the  house  in  three  or  four  days. 

Sad  days  these  vrere  to  poor  Emma — she  strug- 
gled hard  to  appear  cheerful  in  her  mother's  pre- 
sence, from  a  dread  of  adding  to  her  trials ;  but 
whenever  she  could  escape  to  the  pleasure  grounds, 
she  wandered  about,  indulging  herself  in  the  most 
extravagant  regret,  and  suffering  melancholy  to 
overpower  her  mind :  she  did  not  pray  to  be  de- 
livered from  over-much  sorrow  ;  she  did  not  reflect 
that  the  sorrow  of  the  Vv'orld  worketh  death  ;  but 
finding  a  sort  of  pleasure  in  being  extremely  miser- 
able, without  considering  that  it  was  a  reproach 
to  Him  who  had  permitted   this  distress  to  come 


THE    StMPLE    FLOWER.  S 

upon  her  family,  she  roamed  about,  taking  a  long 
leave  of  every  spot,  and  increasing  her  regret,  while 
her  mother  was  seeking  in  prayer  to  have  her  affec- 
tions more  entirely  drawn  from  things  on  earth,  and 
more  steadily  set  on  those  above.  Emma  thought 
her  grief  very  natural,  and  the  indulgence  of  it  quite 
innocent;  but  our  corrupt  nature  requires  to  be 
watched,  and  its  inclinations  often  checked :  wdiile 
nothing  is  really  innocent  that  unfits  us  for  the  per- 
formance of  our  daily  duties,  or  makes  it  to  appear 
that  the  dealings  of  God  toward  us  are  hard  and, 
severe. 

By  a  strange  contradiction,  the  more  Emma  dif-^: 
fered  from  her  favorite  flower,  the  more  she  loved 
and  mourned  over  it.  She  employed  herself  in. 
carrying  roots  of  it  to  every  spot  where  it  had  not 
yet  fixed  itself,  and  in  this  foolish  occupation,, 
wasted  many  hours  that  might  have  been  devoted^ 
to  consoling  her  poor  mother,  and  to  improving  this- 
afflictive  trial  to  her  own  advantage.  '  It  is  only 
for  a  few  days,'  thought  Emma:  but  in  these  few 
days  she  acquired  a  taste  for  idling,  that  weeks  and- 
months  of  application  could  scarcely  overcome. 

At  length  the  day  arrived  when  they  were  to  bid 
farewell  to  this  spot ;  and  very  early  in  the  morning 
both  mother  and  daughter  took  a  last  survey  of  the- 
garden  and  shrubbery.  Neither  was  inclined  to 
speak.  Emma  carefully  dug  up  several  roots  of 
heart's-ease  and  deposited  them  in  her  little  basket,, 
gimong  moss  and  grass,  for  the  purpose  of  adorning; 


10  THE   SIMPLE   FLOWER. 

her  new  abode.  At  last  they  turned  into  the  walk 
that  led  from  their  grounds  across  a  meadow,  by 
which  they  could  gain  the  house  in  a  different  di- 
rection. Here  Emma  abruptly  broke  silence — 
"  Mamma,  shall  we  never,  never  come  back  ?" 

"I  shall  come  back,  my  dear,  probably  before 
you,"  replied  her  Mamma  in  a  low  voice,  and  look- 
ing toward  the  burying  ground,  which  was  at  a 
short  distance  from  whence  they  stood. 

"  O  !  Mamma,  do  let  us  go  to  the  church-yard," 
cried  Emma,  hardly  knowing  why  she  wished  it, 
yet  feeling  as  if  it  would  be  a  relief  to  her  mother, 
and  herself  also. 

To  the  church-yard  they  went;  and  bent  their 
steps  to  the  spot  where  Emma's  father  lay.  A  tomb 
covered  his  remains,  which  was  railed  in  ;  and  the 
long  grass  rose  around  it,  and  inserted  itself  between 
the  iron  bars.  There  were  rose  trees  too,  growing 
from  little  slips,  that  Mrs.  Merton  had  set  there  two 
years  before  ;  and  a  tall  yew  tree,  hanging  its  dark 
boughs  over  the  tomb,  gave  a  solemn  and  a  beauti- 
ful effect  to  the  scene. 

Emma  felt  composed  by  it,  but  lamented  her  selfish 
indulgence  when  she  heard  the  deep  sobs  bursting 
from  the  bosom  of  her  mother,  to  whom  this  spot 
was  dearer  than  all  that  the  house  and  garden  con  - 
tained ;  and  she  set  herself  to  repair  the  mischief 
that  she  seemed  to  have  done,  by  speaking  comfort 
to  her  mother  in  her  way. 

"Mamma,  we  ought  to  be  very  thankful  even  for 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  11 

the  poor  cottage  we  are  going  to,  when  we  think  what 
a  small,  dark,  lonely  dwelling  papa  has  got  here." 

Mrs.  M.  My  love,  we  should  be  thankful  for 
every  thing,  since  all  is  mercy  far  above  our 
deserts ;  but  I  should  be  sorry  indeed  to  consider 
this  as  your  papa's  dwelling. 

Emma.  Why,  is  he  not  shut  up  there  ? 

Mrs.  M.  The  earthly  tabernacle  of  his  body  is 
mouldering  there,  my  Emma ;  but  he  himself  is 
now  clothed  with  immortality  and  dwelling  in  a 
building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens.  '  Better  is  the  day  of  death 
than  the  day  of  one's  birth,'  is  the  word  of  Scripture. 
Better  every  v/ay.  With  our  birth  begin  our 
sufferings :  our  death  ends  them :  our  birth  enters 
the  best  of  men  into  a  world,  a  wilderness :  our 
death  enters  the  good  into  a  world  of  glory. 

"  And  we  know  that  he  is  in  heaven,  because  he 
was  so  good,"  added  Emma. 

"  We  know  ihat  he  is  in  heaven,"  replied  her 
Mother,  "  because  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  said, 
'  He  that  believeth  in  me  hath  everlasting  life.' 
'  Though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live,'  W^e  are 
well  assured  that  your  father's  whole  trust  was 
placed  in  Him,  who  is  the  resurrection  and  the 
life :  and  far,  indeed,  he  was  from  accoimting  him- 
self good,  or  resting  any  hope  whatever  on  his  own 
merits." 

"  But  he  was  good,  notwithstanding,"  said  Emma. 

Mrs.  M.  He  was  a  faithful  and  a  zealous  servant 


f 


12  THE   SIMPLE   FLOWER. 

of  his  heavenly  Master,  my  child  ;  he  was  the 
tenderest,  the  best  of  husbands  and  fathers  :  he  was 
meek  and  lowly,  yet  firm  and  undaunted  in  the 
cause  of  truth  ;  never  shrinking  from  a  bold  con- 
fession of  his  faith  in  his  crucified  Redeemer,  nor 
abashed  by  the  scorn  of  those  who  despised  the 
holy  name  that  he  professed :  he  was  a  Christian, 
Emma,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word. 

Emma.  Yet,  Mamma,  you  seem  to  tliink  he  was 
not  good  enough  to  go  to  heaven. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  replied  Mrs.  Merton,  "  what  I 
heard  him  say  to  his  sister  who  came  to  see  him  in 
his  last  illness,  and  who  judged  as  you  do.  She 
beheld  his  perfect  composure,  witnessed  his  declara- 
tion of  the  happiness  that  he  felt  in  the  prospect  of 
soon  seeing  his  Saviour  face  to  face ;  and  remarked 
to  him,  '  I  always  said  that  your  death  would  be  a 
happy  one,  Francis,  because  you  have  lived  so  good 
a  life,  and  done  your  duty  in  every  station  so  well.' 
Your  papa  raised  his  head  and  replic:L  'Anne,  if  I 
had  no  better  hope  before  me  than  wh  .  ne  review  of 
my  conduct  affords,  I  should  say  to  uio  rocks,  Fall 
on  me,  and  to  the  hills.  Cover  me.  I  am  a  guilty 
and  polluted  creature,  born  in  sin,  and  sinning  daily. 
If  I  look  to  the  perfect  law  of  God,  and  hen  to  my 
own  heort  and  life,  I  must  cry,  '  Wo  is  me,  for  I  am 
undone  !  But  I  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father, 
Jesus  Christ  the  righteous,  who  is  the  pr  .pitiation 
for  my  sins.  His  merits,  his  suffierings,  his  Llood, 
his  promises,  are  what  I  desire  to  plead  :  and  ft  eling 


The  simple  Flower.  13 

that  I  do  rest  on  him  entirely,  as  the  rock  of  my 
salvation,  I  can  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory.  The  hope  to  which  I  have  fled  for 
refuge  is  that  set  before  us  in  the  Gospel :  and  that 
hope  I  have,  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure 
and  steadfast.  On  Christ  is  all  my  dependence; 
and  trusting  in  him  I  can  never  be  ashamed.'  " 

"  Ah  !"  said  Emma,  with  a  sigh,  "  I  wish  I  under- 
stood these  things  better  !" 

Mrs.  M.  God  can  reveal  them  to  you,  my  dear  : 
but  you  must  diligently  use  the  means  appointed 
by  him,  and  by  prayer  and  watchfulness  render 
the  study  of  his  word  effectual  to  your  improve- 
ment. We  must  depart,  Emma ;  and  let  the  visit 
"we  have  paid  here  dwell  upon  our  minds,  to 
moderate  the  painful  feelings  which  we  may 
experience  to-day ;  for  while  looking  forward  to 
this  lowly  resting-place  for  our  bodies,  and  to  an 
eternal  inheritance  of  heavenly  glory  for  our  souls, 
it  will  seem  a  light  thing  to  exchange  one  earthly 
abode  for  another.  Trials  and  afflictions  we  must 
expect,  in  common  with  all  our  sinful  race ;  as  a 
good  bishop  has  expressed  it,  "  Every  man  hath  his 
turn  of  sorrow  ;  whereby,  some  more,  some  less,  all 
men  are  in  their  times  miserable.  I  never  yet  could 
meet  with  the  man  that  complained  not  of  some- 
what. Before  sorrow  come,  I  will  prepare  for  it ; 
when  it  is  come,  I  will  welcome  it  -,  when  it  goes, 
I  will  lake  but  half  a  farewell  of  it ;  as  still  expect- 
ing its  leturn." 


14  THE    SIMPLE   FLOWER. 

Mrs.  Merton  slowly  walked  away  :  Emma  linger- 
ed, hastily  took  a  few  roots  of  her  plant  from  the 
basket,  and  committed  them  to  the  ground,  as  near 
the  iron  railing  as  she  could ;  then  hastened  after 
her  mother,  and  in  a  few  hours  left  the  home  of 
her  infancy. 

It  was  late  before  they  reached  their  new  abode. 
Emma  had  no  inclination  to  examine  it  closely ; 
there  was  a  little  bare-looking  garden  behind  it,  in 
which  she  set  her  plants,  and  then,  fatigued  and 
dissatisfied,  retired  to  rest. 

In  the  morning  her  new  situation  was  felt  more 
keenly.  Instead  of  the  elegant  hangings  and  dam- 
ask curtains  that  adorned  her  former  bed-chamber, 
she  awoke  to  gaze  upon  walls  simply  colored  with 
a  blue  wash,  and  plain  white  dimity  window  blinds. 
She  had  pictured  to  herself  such  a  cottage  as  she 
had  seen  near  her  father's  grounds,  half  hid  by 
stately  trees,  and  covered  with  jessamine  and 
honeysuckle ;  but  this  was  a  new  building,  and  very 
little  vegetation  as  yet  appeared  about  it.  The  gar- 
den was  small,  unsheltered  and  principally  stocked 
with  useful  herbs  and  roots,  and  a  few  young  cur- 
rant and  gooseberry  trees.  The  country  around 
was  flat  and  uninteresting,  and  as  far  as  Emma 
could  perceive  from  her  window,  did  not  even 
afford  a  pleasant  shady  walk.  She  continued  lean- 
ing sullenly  out  at  the  little  casement,  until  the 
kind  voice  of  her  Mamma  from  the  next  room, 
called  her  from  her  meditation. 


THE   SIMPLE   FLOWER.  15 

They  joined  in  prayer  as  usual,  but  Emma's  mind 
'was  listless  and  not  disposed  for  devotion.  She  did 
not  feel  the  thankfulness  that  her  mother  poured 
forth  for  the  blessings  yet  spared  to  them ;  and 
though  she  thought  it  lil:ely  that  the  correction 
might  be  for  their  good,  as  her  mamma  acknow- 
ledged it  to  be;  yet  she  would  rather  have  been 
without  it ;  and  all  those  rebellious  feelings  dwelt 
unchecked  upon  her  thoughts,  while  kneeling  before 
the  throne  of  Him  who  has  said,  "  I  know  the  things 
that  come  into  your  mind,  every  one  of  them." 

Emma  went  down  stairs,  and  in  the  parlor  she 
found  a  few  geraniums  and  other  plants,  which 
her  mother  had  brought  as  a  relic  of  their  former 
home :  but  they  only  served  to  remind  Emma  of 
the  green-house,  the  parterre,  the  lawn,  the  shrub- 
bery, and  the  thousand  sweet  flowers  that  she  was 
to  see  no  more.  She  turned  from  them  to  the 
breakfast  table,  and  secretly  drew  a  mortifying 
compaiison  between  the  china  service  which  she 
was  accustomed  to  use,  and  the  plain  cottage  furni- 
ture before  her.  All  seemed  wrong;  and  in  the 
selfish  regret  of  her  own  heart,  she  felt  not  for  her 
poor  mother,  whose  change  of  circumstances  must 
have  pressed  more  heavily  on  her  from  witnessing 
the  very  bad  grace  with  which  they  were  met  by 
her  little  girl.  All  was  silence,  until  Mrs.  Merton, 
seeing  a  poor,  crippled  child,  slowly  passing  by 
the  garden  rails,  pointed  her  out  to  Emma,  who 
first  looked,  and  then  peevishly  said,  "  I  suppose  we 


16  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

shall  be  treated  with  the  sight  of  such  objects  every 
day;  we.  must  have  blinds  to  this  little  ugly 
window.-' 

"The  sight  of  such  objects,  Emma,"  replied  her 
Mamma,  very  gravely,  "  may  be  useful  to  curb  the 
discontent  and  ingratitude  of  our  own  hearts." 

Emma  felt  the  reproof,  but  it  only  increased  her 
suilenness. 

Mrs.  Merton  contmued  ;  "  Who  made  us  to  differ 
from  the  most  wretched  in  body,  the  most  depraved 
in  mind  of  our  fellow-creatures  ?  Was  the  alRu- 
ence  to  which  we  were  born  the  recompense  of  our 
merits,  or  the  fruit  of  any  claim  that  we  had  on  Him 
whose  the  earth  is,  and  all  the  fulness  thereof? 
That  helpless  child,  Emma,  on  whom  your  delicate 
eye  cannot  bear  to  dwell,  has  a  soul  as  immortal,  as 
precious  in  the  sight  of  God,  as  yours  can  be  :  were 
she  suddenly  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  comforts 
that  are  3-ct  spared  to  us,  how  great  would  be  her 
wonder  and  thankfulness !  yet  upon  these  mercies 
I  fear  you  look  down  with  disdain,  because  j^our 
inclinations  have  been  gratified  in  various  things, 
of  which  the  poor  have  no  idea,  and  without  which 
man}^  a  family  in  easy  circumstances  is  grateful  and 
happy." 

Emma.  But,  Mamma,  is  it  not  natural  to  feel  the 
loss  of  these  conveniencies,  considering  one  has 
really  been  always  used  to  them? 

Mrs.  M.  It  is  natural,  Emma,  to  the  mind  that 
has  never  learned  to  rise  above  the  vain  things  of 


i^ME   SIMPLE   FLOWER.  1^ 

tliis  world;  and  which  regards  self-indulgence  as 
the  end  of  its  being :  but  how  contrary  to  the  pro- 
fession of  those  who  acknowledge  as  the  rule  of 
their  faith  the  word  which  says,  ^  If  ye  live  after  the 
flesh  ye  shall  die.'  ^Love  not  the  world,  neither 
the  things  that  are  in  the  world;  if  any  man  love 
the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him.' 
O  my  child  !  if  we  would  more  frequently  consider 
that  humbling  declaration,  '  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto 
dust  shalt  thou  return ;'  if  we  would  seriously  re- 
flect how  little  these  human  distinctions  can  avail 
in  the  momentous  concerns  of  eternity,  we  should 
prize  them  as  mere  dross. 

Produced  from  the  earth,  for  a  season  we  bloom. 
But  short  the  duration,  and  certain  our  doom  : 
"VVe  fade  as  the  leaf,  in  untimely  decay, 
And  our  sins,  like  a  whirlwind,  have  swept  us  away. 

The  oak  in  its  beauty,  with  majesty  crown'd, 
The  shrub  that  but  trails  its  low  branch  on  the  ground ; 
The  poisonous  weed,  and  the  scent-breathing  sweet, 
Will  mingle  their  foliage  in  dust  at  our  feet. 

What  boots  it,  O  man,  though  thy  station  be  high, 
And  fortune  may  shine  like  a  fair  summer's  sky*? 
A  moment  will  check  the  free  course  of  thy  breath, 
And  thou  must  lie  down  with  the  poorest  in  death. 

Alas  for  thy  grandeur !  beneath  thee  is  spread, 
The  worm  : — and  the  worm  may  pass  over  thy  head ) 
The  song  and  the  revel  no  more  dost  thou  crave, 
All  hush'd  in  the  silence  and  gloom  of  the  grave. 
2* 


18  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

There  are  trees  that  shall  bloorii  in  the  regions  cf  bliss, 
The  Lord  is  their  root,  and  their  beauty  is  this ; 
In  righteousness  planted,  they  see  not  decay, 
When  earth  and  her  dwellings  shall  vanish  away. 

O  better  to  spring  like  a  blade  from  the  ground, 
And  humble  and  lowly,  and  m.ean  to  be  found  : 
Than  high  in  the  world's  leafy  forest  aspire, 
Prepared  for  the  flc>mes  of  unquenchable  fire  ! 

After  breakfast,  they  resumed  the  business  of 
Emma's  education  j  and  while  at  her  lessons,  she 
felt  all  the  bad  effects  of  her  late  unreasonable 
wanderings  at  home  :  her  e3"es  roved  continually 
toward  the  window,  "without  any  real  wish  to  go 
out.  and  she  was  constantly  changing  her  position 
and  longing  to  vary  her  employment.  Her  mother 
remarked  it,  and  lamented  the  uneasiness  which  she 
witnessed,  but  knowing  that  no  chastening  for  the 
present  seemeth  joyous,  but  grievous,  she  made 
allowances  for  the  distress  of  her  little  girl ;  and 
owned  the  necessity  of  the  correction  which  she 
hoped  would  in  the  end  yield  the  peaceable  fruits  of 
righteousness.  She  adored  the  wisdom  and  the 
love  by  which  the  secret  evil  of  her  child's-  heart 
was  thus  brought  forth  to  view,  and  a  remedy 
applied,  as  she  humbly  trusted,  before  it  became 
more  deeply  rooted.  We  are  often  disposed  to 
murmer  at  afflictions,  not  knowing  what  messages 
of  mercy  they  may  be  made  to  bring,  nor  to  what 
a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory 
they  may  point  the  way. 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWEH.  19 

M'hileMrs.  Merton  was  indulging  these  thoughts, 
and  fostering  a  resigned  and  thankful  spirit,  little 
Emma  strolled  through  the  garden,  rather  as  a 
matter  of  form,  than  of  inclination,  and  scarcely 
turned  a  look  upon  her  heart's-ease,  which  seemed 
to  have  lost  its  attractions  by  becoming  a  resident 
in  a  spot  that  she  so  much  disliked.  Dinner 
brought  a  renewal  of  the  comparisons  which  she 
had  made  at  the  breakfast  table;  and  her  IMamma 
being  employed  all  the  evening  in  writing  letters, 
Emma  languidly  took  out  and  arranged  her  little 
treasuries  of  books  and  toys,  and  went  to  bed  as 
melancholy  as  she  had  risen. 

The  next  day  she  made  some  few  attempts  to  be 
more  cheerful,  but  without  seeking  by  prayer  or 
serious  reflection  to  impress  on  her  mind  the  sinful- 
ness of  the  repinings  in  which  she  had  indulged. 
She  was  tired  of  being  miserable,  and  wished  to  re- 
cover her  usual  gayety  :  but  found  herself  unable  t© 
command  her  spirits,  and  unwilling  to  look  up  to  the 
only  true  source  of  all  consolation  and  happiness. 

In  the  evening  her  Mamma  accompanied  her  to 
the  garden  ;  and  after  remarking  how  many  useful 
things  were  contained  in  its  small  space,  they  stop- 
ped before  the  bed  where  Emma  had  placed  her 
plants.  They  were  faint  and  withering,  the  flowers 
dead,  the  leaves  drooping  and  discolored,  and  all 
seemed  past  recovery. 

Emma  looked  at  tliem  with  something  like  sul- 
len satisfaction,  and  said,  "  Even  heart's-ease  will 
not  tlirive  here." 


ssu  The  simple  flower. 

"  Heart's-ease  does  not  thrive  here,  indeed,^'  replied 
her  Mother,  "but  whose  is  the  fault?  The  flower 
cannot  support  itself,  nor  exist  without  the  supply 
of  moisture  which  a  very  little  care  would  abund- 
antly furnish  it  with.  I  grieve  to  see  your  plants 
drooping  thus,  Emma,  through  your  neglect ;  but, 
my  child,  I  grieve  much  more  to  witness  the  de- 
struction of  your  own  peace  of  mind,  overrun  by 
the  weeds  of  discontent  and  pride,  and  left  unre- 
freshed  by  the  showers  of  divine  grace,  which  you 
no  longer  seek  to  call  down  by  prayer  and  watch^- 
fulness." 

Emma  knew  how  well  she  deserved  this  rebuke ; 
she  blushed,  and  stammered  out, "  But,  Mamma,  the 
change  is  so  great,  and  so  new — after  a  little  time  I 
shall  recover  what  I  have  lost." 

Airs.  M.  Never,  Emma,  if  you  neglect  the  means 
of  grace.  You  may  indeed  forget  your  mortifica- 
tions, and  become  reconciled  by  habit  to  your  new 
condition ;  but  as  soon  shall  those  flowers  bloorft 
again,  without  the  aid  of  earth,  air,  or  water,  as 
j^our  spirit  know  the  pleasantness  of  God-s  peace, 
while  you  indulge  all  these  natural  and  evil  feel- 
ings, and  go  on  frowardly  in  the  way  of  your  own 
heart. 

Emma.  Why,  Mamma,  do  not  you  regret  the 
change,  and  the  loss  of  so  many  delightful  things  ? 

Mrs.  I\I.  Perhaps  I  do,  too  much,  Emma ;  but  1 
hope  the  comforts  of  God's  word  are  not  lost  upon 
nie :  when  the  Son  of  God  came  to  suffer  for  my 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  2"! 

sins,  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head :  he  depended 
upon  the  bounty  of  his  disciples  for  his  daily  meal, 
and  I  confess  the  view  of  that  cottage,  and  our  com- 
parative wealth,  constrains  me  to  cry  out,  '  I  am 
not  worthy  of  the  least  of  thy  mercies  !'  Let  us  go 
to  the  Scriptures  for  comfort.  David,  the  sweet 
Psalmist  of  Israel  says,  '  This  is  my  comfort  in 
my  affiction :  for  thy  word  hath  quickened  me.' 
While  performance  of  the  promise  of  God  is 
delayed,  we  may  be  'rejoicing  in  hope,'  and  the 
promise  is  our  '  comfort  in  affliction ;'  a  comfort 
divine,  strong,  and  lasting ;  a  comfort  that  will  not, 
like  all  others,  fail  us  when  we  most  want  it,  in  the 
day  of  sickness,  darkness,  distress,  and  at  the  hour 
of  death  ;  but  will  always  keep  pace  with  our  neces- 
sities, increasing  in  proportion  as  the  pleasures  of 
the  world  decrease,  and  then  becommg  complete 
when  they  are  no  more.  So  powerful  is  the  word 
of  God  to  revive  us,  when  dead  either  in  sins  or  in 
sorrows — '  Thy  word  hath  quickened  me.' 

"Mamma,"  said  Emma,  "I  now  see  that  I  have 
been  very  wrong.  I  boasted  that  I  was  like  the 
heart's-ease,  and  could  be  contented  any  where  ; 
but  now,  both  my  flowers  and  myself  are  perishing 
through  my  sinful  temper.  I  will  remedy  this  mis- 
chief;" — and  she  ran  to  fetch  water,  and  poured  it 
plentifully  over  the  fading  leaves.  "  Now,"  said  she, 
"  they  will  recover,  and  you  shall  see  how  different 
a  child  I  shall  become." 

But  the  poor  plants  had  been  neglected  too  long : 


22  THE    SIMPLE    FL0W£R. 

they  continued  to  wither,  and  Emma  soon  had  the 
mortification  to  see  them  quite  dead.  Nor  was  this 
her  worst  troul)lo,  for  she  found  that  the  Lord  will 
sometimes  hide  his  eyes  from  those  who  have 
rejected  his  counsel,  and  who  would  none  of  his 
reproof.  She  was  left,  for  a  time,  to  suffer  the 
greatest  distress  of  mind  ;  and  when  looking  upon 
the  yellow  leaves  of  her  heart's-ease,  she  would  ask 
herself  with  secret  dread,  '  What,  if  the  Lord  should 
leave  me  to  perish  also,  and  never  more  revive  me 
with  the  dew  of  his  mercy  !' 

How  gladly  now  would  Emma  have  changed  the 
cottage  so  lately  despised  for  the  poorest  hovel  in 
the  land,  if  by  so  doing  she  could  have  regained 
that   sweet  confidence  which  she  oiice  felt  in  ap- 
proaching  the  throne  of  grace  with  her  Mamma, 
and   addressing   God  as  her  reconciled  Father,  in 
Christ  Jesus.     Often  did  she  repeat  the  lines  of  a 
beautiful  hymn  that  her  mother  had  taught  her  ; 
'*  Return,  O  holy  Dove,  return, 
Sweet  messenger  of  rest ' 
I  hate  the  sins  that  made  thee  mourn, 
And  drove  thee  from  my  breast.'' 

But  little  Emma  was  to  be  brought  into  yet 
deeper  v^-aters  of  trial  before  she  was  comforted. 
She  w^as  to  experience  more  fully  the  truth  of  the 
Apostle's  declaration,  'I  know  that  in  me,  that  is  in 
my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing,'  and  to  learn  how 
many  a  stumbling-block  the  enemy  of  our  salvation 
can  lay  in  the  path  of  those  who  begin  seriously  to 


THE    SIMPLE   FLOWER.  23 

inquire  after  the  way  in  which  God  has  commanded 
his  people  to  walk. 

It  has  been  observed  that  Mrs.  Merton  still  re- 
tained in  her  service  a  5^oung  girl  whose  orphan 
state  rendered  her  a  fit  object  for  such  compassion- 
ate care  as  her  lady  could  yet  show.  Martha  was 
several  years  older  than  Emma,  and  early  misfor- 
tunes had  been  so  far  blessed  to  her,  as  to  excite  a 
desire  for  more  abiding  comforts  than  this  change- 
ful world  can  give:  but  Martha  was  "slow  of  heart 
to  believe,"  and  like  too  many  others  she  looked  less 
into  the  word  of  God  for  confirmation  of  the  truths 
which  she  heard,  than  to  the  actions  of  his  professed 
servants,  to  discover  how  far  ♦heir  lives  correspond- 
ed with  the  peculiar  sanctity  insisted  on  by  them  as 
inseparable  from  the  Christian  character.  Our  Lord 
tells  his  disciples,  that  they  are  "  as  a  city  set  on  a 
hill,  which  cannot  be  hid," — we  know  how  they  are 
made  "  a  spectacle  to  all  men  ;"  and  the  adversary 
is  ever  on  the  watch  to  blaspheme  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  their  i._/;th,  if  that  faith  fails  to  bear  the 
plenteous  and  uatainted  fruit  which  the  supply  of 
his  grace  is  sufficient  to  produce  in  the  conduct  of 
the  true  believer.  .".Iririha  sav/  that  her  young  lady 
considered  herself  a  iiv.is  character:  her  little  books, 
selected  by  her  Marimia,  were  all  of  the  most  profit- 
able description  ;  she  was  punctual  in  prayer,  and 
read  the  Scriptures  dai'y,  aloud.  Martha  had  also 
heard  her  speak  frequently  with  mingled  pity  and 
censure    of   children,    \yho,    being    less   carefully 


24  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

instructed,  were  heedless  of  those  things  which 
belonged  to  their  eternal  peace:  whose  hearts  were 
set  on  tlieir  toys,  their  amusements,  and  foolish 
distinctions  in  dress  :  seeking  to  outshine  each 
other  in  the  display  of  fine  clothes ;  bnt  totally  re- 
gardless of  the  inward  adorning  that  the  apostle 
Paul  recommends.  Beside,  Emma  very  often  made 
use  of  Scripture  language  in  blaming  Martha  for 
her  occasional  faults ;  and  took  so  much  of  the 
preacher  on  herself,  that  it  appeared  quite  natural 
for  the  girl  to  examine  her  practice  very  closely. 

It  will  be  readily  supposed  by  those  who  are  at 
all  accustomed  to  watch  their  own  evil  hearts,  that 
Emma  was  too  ready  to  vent  upon  Martha  the  ill- 
humor  occasioned  by  her  discontent  and  self  re- 
proach, under  the  late  reverse  of  fortune.  She  was 
indeed  very  careful  that  her  mother  should  not  wit- 
ness such  unbecoming  conduct ;  but  she  frequently 
behaved  in  a  most  tyrannical  manner  to  this  servant 
girl ;  and  then,  to  prevent  her  complaining  to  Mrs. 
Merton,  she  was  obliged  to  bribe  her  with  some 
present,  or  to  make  amends  as  sue  called  it,  by  con- 
versing with  a  degree  of  familarity  that  her  Mamma 
w^ould  by  no  means  have  allowed  of.  Nothing  was 
more  contrary  to  Mrs.  Merton's  character  than 
pride  ;  but  she  knew  that  it  was  no  part  of  Chris- 
tian humility  to  do  away  with  the  distinctions 
which  God  has  been  pleased  to  permit  between  the 
various  ranks  and  classes  in  society.  She  taught 
her  little  girl,  both  by  doctrine  and  example,  to  be 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  25 

gentle,  patient,  and  obliging  toward  inferiors ;  but 
cautioned  her  against  forgetting  the  respect  due  to 
herself  by  encouraging  any  thing  like  intimacy 
with  those  whose  education  and  habits  must  render 
them  unsuitable  companions  for  her.  Until  the 
reverses  in  their  fortune  took  place,  Emma  had 
found  no  great  difficulty  in  obeying  her  mother's 
precepts,  in  this  instance  ;  and  she  was  both  re- 
spected and  loved  by  the  domestics  in  her  former 
abode.  But  now  Martha  had  too  often  sufficient 
gfbunds  for  the  remark,  that  it  was  no  great  matter 
to  be  good  humored  when  people  had  every  thing 
at  hand  to  content  them  :  but  that  Miss  Emma, 
instead  of  pitying  her  for  having  all  the  work,  that 
so  many  had  shared  before,  now  thrown  upon  her 
alone,  treated  her  worse  than  a  slave,  because  she 
could  not  do  as  much  as  three  or  four  people  in  as 
little  time.  Often  adding,  what  a  sad  thing  it  was, 
that  Miss  Emma's  religion  did  not  teach  her  to  be 
more  reasonable  toward  her  fellow-creatures. 

Observations  like  this,  Martha  would  occasionally 
make,  when  she  knew  that  Emma  must  overhear  a 
great  part  of  them  :  they  irritated  the  little  girl, 
roused  the  evil  spirit  of  pride :  and  very  frequently 
provoked  her  to  scold  and  threaten,  when  she  should 
rather  have  mourned  in  secret,  and  prayed  for  grace 
to  contend  against  the  feelings  that  exposed  her  to 
such  mortifying  reproofs.  It  is  by  no  means  pro- 
per for  servants  to  convey  their  remarks  in  Martha's 
vude  manner;  though  a  truly  Christian  child  will 
3 


SB  THE   SIMPLE   PLOWEk. 

ever  be  thankful  to  the  lowest  inferior  for  a  timely 
caution,  given  in  respectful  and  modest  terms  :  if, 
however,  people  by  intemperate  language  and  in- 
consistent conduct,  expose  themselves  to  the  con- 
tempt of  those  around  them,  they  must  expect  to  be 
the  subject  of  such  observations  as  they  would  little 
like  to  hear.  But  a  much  higher  principle  should 
operate  as  a  check  on  all  unbecoming  demeanor : 
the  pernicious  effect  of  their  example,  is  to  harden 
others,  through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,  both  against 
just  rebuke,  when  properly  applied,  and  also  against 
the  strivings  of  the  spirit  in  their  own  bosoms,  wiio, 
by  the  voice  of  conscience,  reproves  them  of  sin  and 
of  judgment.  Satan  furnishes  them  with  excuseSj 
to  stifle  the  warning  voice.  '  If  those  Vv'ho  know 
so  much  better  what  is  right  than  a  poor  ignorant 
servant  can  do,  give  way  to  every  peevish  and  un- 
reasonable humor,  what  can  be  expected  from  me?' 
And  thus  screening  themselves  beliind  an  evil  exam- 
ple, they  indulge  the  corrupt  propensity  of  their  own 
dispositions  ;  and  refusing  to  hearken,  may  perish, 
long  after  those  who  have  so  cruelly  promoted  their 
destruction  forget  that  ever  they  had  seen  them  ;  but 
will  not  the  Lord  visit  for  these  things  ?  That  'the 
poor  had  the  Gospel  preached  to  them,'  was  a  distin- 
guishing mark  of  his  divine  mission.  To  preach  the 
Gospel  to  them  he  was  anointed  by  the  Father  with 
the  Holy  Spirit;  and  is  it  not  a  most  awful  thing  to 
oppose  that  work  in  which  the  Triune  Jehovah  has 
vouchsafed  in  an  especial  manner  to  engage  ? 


TUE   SIMPLE    FLOWER.  ^7 

Mrs.  Merton  made  a  remark  of  this  kind  to  Emma, 
on  some  occasion  when  she  discovered  an  instance 
of  improper  conduct  on  her  part  toward  Martha. 
Emma  was  both  abashed  and  alarmed  :  "  I  am  sure, 
Mamma,  I  had  no  intention  to  do  any  thing  so  wick- 
ed ;  nothing  conld  be  further  from  my  thoughts." 

"I  believe  it,  Emhia,"  replied  her  Mother,  "but Is 
your  sin  palliated  by  that  want  of  consideration? 
Surely  not :  if  the  law  of  God  were  engraven  on 
your  heart,  it  M'ould  ever  be  present  to  your 
thoughts,  as  a  most  powerful  check  upon  evil  sug- 
gestions. Our  blessed  Lord  has  bade  us  take  heed 
ihat  we  offend  not  one  of  his  little  ones — the  young, 
the  poor,  the  weak  of  liis  flock.  If  by  neglecting 
to  take  heed,  you  commit  this  sin,  and  bring  on 
yourself  the  wo  denounced  on  him  by  whom  the 
offence  cometh,  is  the  vengeance  of  God  to  sleep, 
and  his  word  to  become  void,  because  you  sufter  a 
slotliful  temper  to  wrap  you  in  spiritual  slumber?" 

Emma  attempted  to  excuse  herself  on  the  plea  of 
their  misfortunes  having  rendered  her  more  hasty 
and  peevish  than  she  was  naturally  disposed  to  be. 

"Tell  me,"  said  Mrs.  Merton,  "  for  what  purpose 
are  afflictions  sent?"  Receiving  no  answer,  she 
continued,  "  Wherefore  did  the  Lord  lead  the  people 
of  Israel  for  forty  j^ears  through  a  wilderness,  full 
of  gloom  and  danger,  beset  by  foes ;  and  keep  them 
dependent  on  a  daily  miracle  for  their  daily  bread  ?" 

Emma  replied,  "To  humble  them,  and  to  prove 
them,  and  to  see  what  was  in  their  liearts." 


28  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

Mrs.  M.  Yes  ;  mark,  to  humble  them,  not  to  make 
them  proud  and  passionate:  to  prove  and  shovj  them 
the  evil  already  in  their  hearts,  not  to  implant  bad 
dispositions  that  never  existed  there  before.  O  my 
child  !  what  accusation  is  this  to  bring  against  your 
Heavenly  Father,  when  you  would  make  the  rod  a 
root,  not  a  corrector,  of  the  deceit  and  desperate 
wickedness  that  reign  in  the  heart  of  every  unre- 
nev/ed  sinner;  and  too  ob&tinalely  cling  even  about 
that  of  the  believer  f 

Emma.  But,  Mamma,  the  temptation  is  so 
great.  You  don't  know  how  provoking  IVIartha 
sometimes  is. 

3Irs.  M.  Temptation,  my  dear,  is  to  be  avoided  : 
we  are  instructed  to  pray  against  it ;  but,  as  the 
Lord  sometimes  sees  it  necessary  for  the  trial  of 
our  faith,  we  have  a  blessedness  pronounced  on  him. 
who  endureth  temptation  :  him,  who  recollecting 
the  promise  that  a  way  of  escape  shall  ever  be  left 
open,  pleads  his  own  weakness,  and  casting  himself 
upon  the  Lord  in  believing  prayer,  experiences  that 
he  '  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who  strength- 
eneth  him.'  A  state  of  affluence  is  fraught  with  many 
snares,  calculated  to  draw  and  beguile  the  soul  from 
the  contemplations  of  heavenly  treasures.  Of  this 
we  have  a  proof  in  the  young  ruler  who  came  to 
Christ,  Avith  a  fair  account  of  his  past  duties,  and 
a  professed  desire  to  perform  whatever  might  be 
further  necessary  to  obtain  eternal  life:  but  when 
the  Searcher  of  hearts  probed  the  secret  unsound- 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  29 

ness  of  his,  by  requiring  him  to  renounce  his 
worldly  wealth,  he  was  so  entangled  in  its  snares 
that  he  went  away  ;  turned  his  back  on  the  Saviour, 
and  plunged  into  those  things  that  would  finally 
drown  him  in  perdition.  But,  delusive  as  riches 
are,  poverty  and  sorrow  have  their  perils  too.  It 
was  in  a  season  of  peculiar  privation  and  bodily 
suffering,  that  the  great  enemy  approached  the  Son 
of  God  with  his  specious  temptations  :  it  was  in  the 
hour  of  personal  danger,  that  Peter  so  lamentably 
fell.  Satan,  who  overcame  David  in  the  midst  of 
sloth  and  luxury,  defiling  him  with  many  sins,  and 
leading  him  to  pierce  himself  through  with  many 
sorrows,  overwhelmed  Job  in  the  deepest  penury, 
affliction,  and  anguish  of  body  and  mind,  for  the 
same  hateful  and  cruel  purpose.  How  formidable 
is  the  power,  how  deadly  the  malice  of  this  our 
inveterate  foe !  Christians  can  boast  that  they  are  not 
ignorant  of  his  devices  ;  yet  how  frequently  is  his 
very  existence  forgotten,  at  the  moment  VA'hen  he  is 
nearest  to  us:  and  !iow  criminally  negligent  are 
we  in  not  putting  on  the  whole  armor  of  God,  the 
only  defence  against  his  overwhelming  attacks  ! 

"Mamma,"  said  Emma,  "  considering  how  very 
crafty  and  strong  this  enemy  is,  can  it  be  wondered 
at  if  he  often  gets  the  better  of  a  weak  child  like 
me?" 

Mrs.  Merton  shook  her  head — "Your  object  is  to 
justify  yourself,  as  if  Satan's  strength  must  be  too 
great  against  you  j  but  beware  of  that  error.    Have 


EO  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWEB. 

I  not  just  said  that  we  are  too  remiss,  in  not  wield- 
ing our  spiritual  weapons  against  our  spiritual  foe  ? 
Surely  we  are  culpable  beyond  all  expression  in 
consenting  to  the  suggestions  of  the  devil,  who,  let 
it  ever  be  remembered,  can  only  tempt ;  he  cannot 
compel.  To  the  weakest  child  is  the  encourage- 
ment as  sure,  as  to  the  strongest  and  most  experi- 
enced Christian,  '  Resist  the  devil  and  he  will  flee 
from  you.'  Who  shall  compel  us  for  a  moment  to 
wear  his  chains,  when  we  are  invited  to  behold  the 
mighty  work  wrought  to  deliver  sinners  '  from  the 
bondage  of  Satan,'  and  to  make  them  '  free  indeed?' 
Has  not  the  Lord  Jesus  '  through  death  destroyed 
him  that  hath  the  power  of  death,  even  the  devil  V 
Are  not  all  who  believe,  '  more  than  conquerors 
through  him  that  loved  us  ?'  The  subtlety  and 
power  of  your  adversary  do  indeed  call  for  inces- 
sant watchfulness  and  prayer  ;  but  will  never  excuse 
your  yielding  in  the  smallest  instance  tohis  tempta- 
tions." 

Thus  constantly  admonished,  Emma  learned  more 
carefully  to  watch  over  her  own  heart;  and  the 
consequence  was  an  increasing  knowledge  of  her- 
self, and  a  deepened  view  of  the  depravity  with 
which  that  fountain  of  her  thoughts,  words,  and 
actions,  was  tainted :  until  reduced  almost  to  de- 
spair, she  would  secretly  exclaim,  'If  out  of  the 
abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh,  what 
an  evil  treasure  must  be  lodged  in  mine !  I  bring 
forth  from  it  nothing  but  evil  things :  I  am  con- 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOV/ER.  31 

stantly  disgracing  myself  and  disgusting  others,  by 
some  new  proof  of  a  proud,  wicked,  contentious, 
and  uncharitable  disposition.  These  cannot  be  the 
feelings  of  God's  children,  for  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  good- 
ness, faith,  meekness,  temperance  :  none  of  these 
things  belong  to  my  character,  and  therefore  I  am 
not  a  Christian.'  In  this  view  of  herself  Emma 
was  perfectly  right ;  she  had  never  fully  experienced 
the  renewing  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  never 
put  off  that  old  man,  the  corrupt  nature  that  was 
born  with  her,  nor  had  she  with  her  heart  believed 
unto  salvation ;  but  Emma  was  quite  wrong  in  the 
conclusion  which  she  drew  from  this  distressing 
survey.  Supposing  it  impossible  to  contend  suc- 
cessfully against  the  enemy,  who  seemed  to  laugh  to 
scorn  all  her  feeble  attempts  at  self-reformation,  she 
was  completely  discouraged,  and  gave  up  the  point, 
expecting  to  be  converted  by  a  miracle  of  grace  at 
some  future  period ;  or,  what  was  too  frequently 
the  case,  driving  the  great  subject  of  salvation 
entirely  from  her  thoughts,  and  laboring  on  mere 
worldly  motives,  for  a  more  decent  and  becoming 
line  of  conduct ;  laying  a  restraint  on  her  temper, 
and  persuading  herself  that  by  so  doing  she  was 
rendering  her  character  amiable  and  respectable. 
In  all  this  she  met  with  slight  internal  opposition  : 
the  enemy  of  souls  cares  little  how  moral  and  de- 
corous, how  benevolent  and  praiseworthy,  our  out- 
ward demeanor  may  become,  so  long  as  it  is  not 


32  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

founded  on  a  regard  to  the  divine  command,  a  deep 
sense  of  God's  holiness,  and  an  entire  dependence 
on  His  sacred  influence,  working  in  us  that  we  may 
have  a  good  will  to  do  His  pleasure,  and  working 
with  us  when  we  have  that  good  will.  Emma  at 
first  wished  the  Lord  to  effect  in  her  the  change 
that  she  knew  was  requisite ;  but  to  be  a  fellow- 
worker  together  with  Goo,  to  do  her  part  in  it,  by  a 
lively  faith,  perseverance  in  prayer,  and  steady  resist- 
ance against  besetting  sins,  this  was  too  arduous 
an  undertaking  for  her  slothful  spirit ;  and  while, 
through  her  tender  mother's  care,  the  seed  of  the 
word  was  still  daily  sown,  she  suffered  a  thousand 
weeds  to  spring  up,  and  choke  the  soil,  making  it 
unfruitful,  until  her  religion  became  a  mere  form ; 
and  she  rested  content  in  the  observance  of  outward 
duties,  indifferent  to  the  most  awakening  calls  of  ex- 
hortation from  without,  and  conscience  from  within. 
More  than  two  years  thus  passed  away,  and 
Emma  improved  in  every  thing  but  the  most  im- 
portant of  all — she  grew  in  stature,  but  not  in  grace  : 
her  features  were  pleasing,  but  her  real  character 
unlovely ;  her  manners  were  insinuating,  but  her 
temper  worldly,  and  her  thoughts  unholy.  In  er\'ery 
branch  of  education  that  her  mother,  herself  highly 
accomplished,  continued  to  exercise  her  in,  she  ex- 
celled :  but  alas !  what  availed  these  external  deco- 
rations, while  her  soul  was  secretly  perishing  for 
lack  of  that  knowledge  which  she  was  too  indolent 
to  seek ! 


THE  SIMPLE   FLOWER.  33 

She  had  now  entered  her  fifteenth  year,  and  a 
new  source  of  anxiety  assailed  her,  which  strongly 
roused  her  feelings  ;  Mrs.  Merton  was  of  a  delicate 
constitution,  and  snice  the  death  of  her  husband  she 
had  not  recovered  from  the  effects  of  her  long  and 
anxious  attendance  upon  him  through  a  painful 
illness.  Emma  was  accustomed  to  see  her  mamma 
look  pale,  and  eat  little  ;  but  now  she  was  becoming 
so  very  thin,  and  her  appetite  was  so  entirely  gone, 
and  her  whole  appearance  showed  such  extreme 
weakness,  that  Emma  began  to  be  very  much  fright- 
ened about  her. 

The  aged  clergyman  of  the  parish  died.  His 
successor,  a  most  pious  and  excellent  minister,  soon 
heard  of  the  reverse  in  Mrs.  Merton's  fortune,  and 
observed  her  quiet  devout  attendance  upon  the  out- 
ward ordinances  of  religion.  He  felt  more  interested 
in  her,  because  of  her  sickly  appearance,  and  the- 
anxious  looks  of  her  daughier.  He  took  an  oppor- 
tunity, of  calling  at  the  cottage,  and  offered  his 
friendship  and  services  with  so  much  sincere  friend- 
ship, that  Mrs.  Morton  gladly  accepted  them. 

Mr.  Selby,  that  v/as  the  minister's  name,  had  a 
daughter  two  years  older  than  Emma.  Mary  Selby 
was  pious,  cheerful,  active,  and  always  looking  out 
for  opportunities  of  doing  good.  She  used  to  say, 
'  There  are  younger  girls  than  I  buried  in  the 
church-yard,  and  if  I  am  called  away  also,  I  must 
not  be  found  like  the  foolish  virgins,  sleeping  in 
idleness,  without  oil  in  my  lamp.     There  is  much 


34  THE    SIMPLE   FLOWEH. 

for  such  as  I  am  to  do ;  many  poor  children  are  igiio- 
rant  of  what  I  am  made  happy  by  knowing,  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  all  who  believe,  and 
that  they  who  name  his  Name  are  required  to  de- 
part from  iniquity.  I  must  assist  to  teach  these 
poor  children ;  and  I  must  earn  a  little,  and  save  a 
little  to  give  to  those  who  are  sending  Bibles  and 
Missionaries  to  the  destitute  in  our  own  country, 
and  to  the  Heathen.'  With  these  feelings,  it  will  be 
believed  that  IMary  was  seldom  idle.  Between  her 
school  and  her  other  work,  she  found  that  it  w^as 
pleasant  to  redeem  the  time,  and  improve  it.  01 
Emma  she  soon  became  so  fond  that  there  was  some 
danger  of  her  being  drawn  off  from  her  usual 
employments  by  her  socieH' :  but  Mary  watched 
against  the  temptation,  and  instead  of  becoming 
idle  herself,  taught  Emma  to  be  industrious. 

,It  will  readily  be  believed  that  such  a  companion 
"was  a  great  acquisition  to  our  poor  Emma,  even  in 
a  worldly  point  of  view:  for  she  had  scarcely  an 
acquaintance  of  an  age  suitable  to  her  own  ;  and 
since  ^Irs.  IMerton  became  so  exceedingly  weak, 
her  daughter  had  little  inclination,  and  less  oppor- 
tunity for  any  society  beyond  the  walls  of  their  own 
cottage,  until  this  happy  an'ival  at  the  parsonage. 
It  was  no  small  comfort  to  find  a  S3n'npathizing 
friend  in  whose  indulgent  ear  she  could  pour  forth 
her  complaints  and  anxieties  respecting  her  mother: 
but  in  more  important  matters  the  benefit  which  she 
derived  from  associating  with  IMary,  was  incalcu- 


THE    SIMPLE    F1.0WER.  35 

iable.  Satisfied  that  Mrs.  Merton  was  most  sincerely 
pious,  and  observing  the  correct  manner  of  Emma, 
the  Selbys  concluded  that  her  daughter,  though 
more  reserved  in  her  expressions,  was  equally  influ- 
enced by  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Mary,  indeed, 
sometimes  doubted :  but  the  uncertainty  only  in- 
creased her  anxiety  to  render  her  conversation  as 
profitable  as  possible  to  her  young  companion.  She 
consulted  her  on  many  excellent  plans  for  the  tem- 
poral comfort  and  spiritual  improvement  of  the  poor 
around  them  ;  she  read  with  her  the  most  interest- 
ing and  affecting  details  of  the  progress  of  divine 
truth,  at  home  and  abroad  ;  often  inviting  her  to 
join  in  prayer  for  the  fulfilment  of  that  glorious 
time,  when,  '  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  unto 
the  going  dov/n  of  the  same,  the  Lord's  name  shall 
be  great  among  the  Gentiles,  and  in  every  place 
incense  shall  be  offered  unto  His  name,  and  a  pure 
offering  ;'  when  '  the  Lord  shall  have  turned  again 
the  captivity  of  Zion,  and  all  Israel  shall  be  saved.' 
Over  such  passages  as  these,  Mary  would  even 
weep  for  joy,  as  she  traced  in  the  great  work  so 
auspiciously  commenced  throughout  the  world,  the 
dawning  of  an  eternal  day.  "  Think,  dear  Emma," 
she  would  say,  "how  great  a  cause  for  humble 
thankfulness  have  we,  not  only  in  being  permitted 
to  behold  these  things,  but  in  reflecting  that  our  own 
country  is  made  the  first,  the  most  distinguished 
instrument,  in  promoting  the  Lord's  gracious  pur- 
poses !  Lock  at  this  small  speck  on  the  globe.    The 


do  THE    SIMPLE   FLOWER. 

British  dominions,  long  receiving  the  Gospel,  and 
the  abundent  grace  of  Christ,  are  now  like  a  little 
fountain  supplying  a  majestic  river,  dispersing  the 
treasure  over  the  earth,  in  a  constantly  augmenting 
stream  of  blessings !" 

Emma  saw  so  much  to  admire  as  well  as  to  love 
in  her  new  friend,  that  she  often  spoke  to  her  in  the 
language  of  commendation,  which  Mary  failed  not 
to  check  and  reprove.  She  would  say,  "  You  com- 
pare me,  Emma,  with  those  unhappy  persons  who 
scarcely  know  that  they  have  immortal  souls,  and 
who  never  reflect  that  they  must  stand  before  the 
judgment  seat  of  Christ,  and  give  account  of  them- 
selves to  Ilim  who  cannot  be  deceived.  Poor  crea- 
tures !  they  do  not  consider  that  our  time  and  all 
the  advantages  enjoyed  by  us  are  but  lent,  and  to  be 
employed  for  the  glory  of  Him  v/ho  intrusts  us  with 
them.  When,  in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  St.  Luke, 
I  meet  with  those  words,  '  Give  an  account  of  thy 
stewardship,  for  thou  mayest  be  no  longer  steward,' 
I  am  Jed  to  serious  reflection.  I  know  this  passage 
concerns  me  :  and  what  a  careless  unfaithful  steward 
I  have  been  of  all  the  blessings  committed  to  my 
care !" 

"  You  judge  yourself  very  severely,  dear  Mary,'* 
said  Emma.     "  Nobody  else  thinks  so  of  you." 

"And  if  I  do  judge  myself,"  she  replied,  "  it  is 
but  what  I  am  commanded  to  do.  By  examining, 
with  sincerity  and  prayer,  our  own  conduct  and 
motives,  we  are  enabled  to  see  what  is  wrong,  and 


THE    SIMPLE   FLOWER.  37 

directed  where,  especially,  to  strive  against  our- 
selves. This  I  suppose  is  what  the  apostle  St.  Paul 
means,  when  he  says,  'judge  yourselves  brethren, 
that  ye  be  not  judged  of  the  Lord.'  As  to  what 
others  may  think  of  me,  there  are  two  texts  from 
the  same  Apostle,  that  serve  to  prevent  my  being 
much  affected  by  that.  He  speaks  of  some,  who 
*  measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  are  not 
wise.'  This  arms  me  against  such  dangerous  com- 
mendations as  yours,  dear  Emma.  And  when  I  am 
blamed  or  ridiculed  for  following  what  I  knoAV  to 
be  my  duty,  I  can  in  my  heart,  I  hope,  without  any 
angry  or  contemptuous  feeling,  address  such  censors 
thus  :  '  With  me  it  is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should 
be  judged  of  you  or  of  man's  judgment.'  I  know 
that  '  He  that  judgeth  me  is  the  Lord' — '  who  will 
bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness,  and 
make  manifest  the  counsels  of  the  heart.'  " 

"  You  seem,"  said  Emma,  "  to  have  a  text  of 
Scripture  ready  for  every  occasion." 

"  If  I  have  not,"  answered  Mary,  "  it  is  my  own 
fault.  God  has  given  us  his  word  as  'a  lamp  unto 
our  feet,  and  a  light  unto  our  paths ;'  but  to  what 
purpose,  if  we  do  not  take  it  abroad  with  us,  when 
we  walk  in  this  dangerous  world  ?'' 

"  But  how  can  you  remember  so  much  of  it  ?" 
asked  Emma. 

Mary.  I  know  my  need  of  such  defence  and 
direction  :  and  I  pray  constantly  to  have  the  law  of 
God  put  into  my  mind,  and  written  on  my  heart : 
4 


38  THE  SIMPLE    FLOWER 

then,  too,  I  have  the  assistance  of  pions  parents, 
who  point  out  to  me  the  passages  most  profitable 
for  one  of  my  youth  and  inexperience.  I  endeavor 
to  read  the  Bible  not  as  a  matter  of  form,  or  of 
merit,  as  I  fear  some  ignorant  young  persons  do  ; 
but  as  I  should  listen  to  directions,  by  which  alone 
I  could  escape  straying  into  the  haunts  of  wild. 
beasts,  or  falling  from  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  when 
about  to  undertake  a  long  and  difficult  journey. 

"  You  make  me  fear  that  I  never  yet  have  read 
the  Scriptures  properly,"  observed  Emma. 

"  Then  begin  to-day,"  said  Mary  :  "  Delay  not : 
it  is  not  your  bodily  safety,  but  the  eternal  interest 
of  your  immortal  soul  that  depends  on  it.  God 
gave  his  book  to  be  studied ;  and  has  annexed  a 
blessing  to  the  devout  observance  of  his  command  : 
while  those  who  neglect  it  go  on  in  darkness,  and 
stumble,  perhaps  to  fall  for  ever." 

In  the  world  a  trembling  stranger, 

Shall  I  slight  a  heavenly  guide? 
Wherefore  roam  in  fear  and  danger, 

When  the  Lord  would  help  provide: 
Snares  and  perils  spread  before  me. 

Welcome  be  the  beam  that  shows 
Every  evil  brooding  o'er  me, 

Each  device  of  crafty  foes. 

While  the  page  of  truth  perusing. 
Lord,  do  thou  unseal  mine  eyes  ; 

So,  the  trifler's  part  refusing, 
1  should  run  to  reach  the  prize. 


THE   SIMPLE   FLOWER.  39 

■Qn  my  solemn  thought  impressing 

Things  eternal,  though  unseen  ; 
Bid  me  scorn  the  worklling's  blessing, 

Joys  unstable,  poor  and  mean. 

When  thy  law,  declared  in  thunder, 

Makes  my  guilty  soul  afraid  ; 
Let  me  speed,  in  grateful  wonder, 

To  the  Rock's  protecting  shade. 
Blessed  Jfisus — Rock  of  ages  !— 

Holy  Spirit !  help  I  crave  ; 
When  I  search  the  sacred  pages, 

On  my  soul  the  words  engrave  ! 

Mary  repeated  tliese  lines  with  great  feeling  ;  and 
Emma  was  much  affected  by  the  conversation.  She 
secretly  compared  the  eagerness  of  her  friend  in 
seeking  instruction  from  the  Scriptures,  and  her 
anxiety  to  keep  constantly  on  her  mind  all  that  she 
there  learned,  with  her  own  cold,  careless  perform- 
ance of  what  she  dared  not  entirely  neglect.  '  I 
feel  as  if  I  had  omitted  a  duty,  when  I  do  not  read 
a  chapter  in  the  Bible,'  thought  Emma  ;  '  and  when 
I  do  so,  as  if  1  had  performed  an  act  of  obedience: 
but  I  have  not  prayed  as  Mary  does,  to  remember 
what  I  read  continually  afterward  ;  mamma  tells 
me  to  do  so,  and,  I  know,  she  does  it  herself:  how 
came  I  to  neglect  such  a  great  duty  ?  I  will  begin 
this  very  day,  as  Mary  advises  me,  and  never  again 
omit  it.' 

But  poor  Emma  found  it  more  easy  to  make  this 
good  resolution  than  to  abide   by  it.     Something 


40  THE  SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

was  constantly  intervening  to  call  off  her  attention  ; 
frequently  she  delayed  the  reading  of  her  Bible 
for  half-an-hour.  and  found  the  opportunity  gone, 
through  successive  interruptions.  Beside — and  she 
felt  it  the  worst  of  all  obstacles — there  was  in  her 
heart  an  unwillingness  to  persevere  steadily  in 
the  course  of  reading  and  meditation  that  she  had 
marked  out  for  herself:  and  trifles  were  not  more 
ready  to  intrude  than  she  was  to  give  her  attention 
to  them  ;  although  a  sad,  comfortless,  and  guilty 
feeling  seemed  to  imbitter  her  mind  all  day  long, 
when  the  duty  had  been  unattended  to. 

Despairing  at  last  of  ever  becoming  like  Mary  in 
this  respect,  she  resolved  to  give  up  the  attempt 
altogether :  but  her  looks  were  so  overcast  in  conse- 
quence, that  her  watchful  mother  felt  assured  some 
new  trouble  pressed  upon  the  evidently  humbled 
heart  of  her  child.  By  the  affectionate  inquiries  of 
Mrs.  Merton,  Emma  was  at  length  induced  to  tell 
the  whole  truth.  Her  Mamma  secretly  thanked 
the  Lord  who  had  blessed  her  daughter  with  a 
friend  so  truly  valuable  ;  and  replied  to  Emma's 
sad  recital  of  her  discouragements  and  despair. 
"  What  you  complain  of,  my  love,  is  the  general 
experience  of  all  who  diligently  set  themselves  to 
inquire  after  the  things  that  belong  unto  their 
peace.  Let  the  constant  obstructions  with  which 
you  meet,  keep  you  waichful  against  an  enemy 
whom  you  find  so  eager  to  throw  every  stumbling- 
block  in  your  way:  and  while  you  feel  your  own 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  41 

proneness  to  turn  aside  after  all  the  idle  baits  that 
he  would  ailure  you  with,  consider,  both  how  very 
much  so  evil  and  thankless  a  nature  needs  the 
renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  how  great  is  the 
mercy  and  compassion  that  can  so  long  bear  with 
oar  deeply  rooted  sinfulness  !" 

"  But,  Mamma,"  said  Emma,  "  T  never,  never 
can  keep  to  Mary's  rule ;  and  I  must  give  it  up." 

Mrs.  AL  I  grieve  to  hear  my  Emma  use  such 
language.  I  have  seen  you  roused  to  double  exer- 
tion, when  any  difficulty  impeded  the  progress  of 
your  studies,  or  opposed  the  gratification  of  your 
wishes  :  is  it  only  in  the  trifles  of  this  fleeting  life 
that  you  can  persevere,  while  the  great  and  eternal 
business  of  salvation  is  to  be  laid  aside  so  readily  at 
the  first  obstacle  ? 

Emma  hung  her  head.  "You  know.  Mamma, 
I  am  too  weak  and  sinful  to  do  any  thing  right  of 
myself;  and  I  do  not  feel  as  if  any  help  was  given 
me  from  above." 

Mrs.  M.  What  help  can  you  require,  m}-  child, 
beyond  that  so  freely  and  impressively  promised  by 
our  LoRo  ?  Find  the  eleventh  chapter  of  St.  Luke, 
and  read  the  ninth,  and  four  following  verses, 

Emma  read: — "And  I  say  unto  you,  ask,  and  it 
shall  be  given  you  ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock, 
and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  For  every  one 
that  asketh,  receiveth  ;  and  he  that  seeketh.  findeth  ; 
and  to  him  that  knocketh,  it  shall  be  opened.     If  a 

son  shall  ask  bread  of  any  of  you  that  is  a  father, 

4* 


42  THE    SIMPLE    FL0Vv-E3. 

will  he  give  him  a  stone  ?  or  if  he  ask  a  fish,  v/ill 
he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent  ?  Or  if  he  shall  ask 
an  egg,  will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion  ?  If  ye  then, 
being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children ;  how  much  more  shall  3^our  heavenly 
Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him?" 

"  Now,"  continued  Mrs.  Merton,  "  our  blessed 
Lord  here  shows  us  the  natural  inclination  of  an 
earthly  parent  to  supply  the  wants  of  his  offspring, 
and  the  improbability  of  his  disappointing  their  re- 
liance on  his  care  and  judgment.  Is  there  no  com- 
fortable help  promised  in  the  concluding  words,  '  If 
ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts 
unto  your  children ;  how  much  more  shall  your 
heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  .Spirit  to  them  that 
ask  him  ?'  Is  there  no  confidence  inspired  by  the 
positive  assurance,  'I  say  unto  you,  ask,  and  it  shall 
be  given  you  ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock,  and 
It  shall  be  opened  unto  you  V  " 

Emma.  Ah  !  yes  Mamma  ;  it  is  very  encouraging. 

"  Then  go,  my  child,  into  my  dressing-room," 
said  Mrs.  Merton,  "  take  that  portion  of  Scripture  to 
meditate  and  pray  over  ;  and  be  assured  the  promise 
s  unto  you,  as  much  as  to  any  who  heard  it  uttered." 

Emma  gladly  obeyed  :  and  as  she  went,  could'not 

t  acknowledge  that  help  was  already  sent,  in  the 

unsel  and  assistance  of  her  mother. 

Emma  repeated  all  this  to  IVIary,  at  their  next 
meeting  :  v/ho  replied,  "  It  is  with  you  as  it  was 
with  me :  and  you  must  learn  to  wait  the  Lord'3 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  43 

leisure.  He  often  makes  his  people  wait,  for  a  trial 
of  their  faith  and  patience  :  and  you  must  remember 
that  we  are  told  to  consider  Him  who  endured 
such  contradiction  of  sinners  against  himself,  lest 
we  be  weary  and  faint  in  our  minds." 

"  What  do  you  understand  by  that  ?"  said  Emma. 

Mary  replied,  "  Papa  tells  me  the  Apostle  means 
to  direct  our  attention,  under  all  troubles,  and  per- 
secutions, and  hinderances,  from  without  or  within, 
to  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  patiently  endured  more  than 
we  can  imagine,  to  accomplish  the  great  work  of  our 
salvation;  and  the  recollection  of  whose  sufferings 
must  make  us  ready  cheerfully  to  encounter  what- 
ever he  permits  to  molest  us,  while  we  are  running 
the  race  set  before  us,  to  obtain  tlie  inheritance 
which  He  has  laid  up  for  us  in  heaven." 

Thus  assisted  and  admonished,  Emma  was  able 
to  persevere  in  her  wise  resolution ;  always  pray- 
ing to  be  kept  steadfast  in  the  work  of  the  Lord. 
She  found  the  promise  fulfilled  to  her,  and  many  a 
warning  or  encouraging  text  w^as  brought  to  her 
mind,  to  check  the  rising  murmur  of  discontent,  to 
combat  the  spirit  of  sloth  and  self-indulgence,  and 
to  lead  her  onward  in  the  narrow  path,  overhung  as 
it  was  by  a  dark  cloud,  that  constantly  saddened  her 
mind  as  she  looked  on  the  drooping  form  and  faded 
countenance  of  a  parent,  rendered  daily  more  dear 
to  the  child  who  now  felt  the  full  value  of  her 
instructions  and  example. 

Mr.  Selby  was  in  very  easy  circumstances,  and 


44  THE   SIMPLE   FLOWER. 

managed  to  convey  many  comforts  to  the  cottagers 
that  their  means  could  not  have  afforded  them  ;  but 
above  all  he  supplied  them  liberally  with  the  con- 
solations of  real  religion.  In  his  visits  to  them 
Mary  usually  accompanied  him :  very  often  she 
went  alone,  to  carry  some  little  delicacy  in  her  small 
basket ;  and  by  her  manner  of  offering  it  she  made 
it  doubly  welcome  to  the  poor  invalid  ;  for  Mrs. 
Merton  soon  became  too  weak  to  go  beyond  the 
narrow  bounds  of  her  own  garden  and  the  adjoin- 
ing ground.  One  afternoon  in  autumn,  the  two 
young  friends  were  rambling  there,  and  Mrs.  Mer- 
ton slowly  following  them  ;  when  a  bird  that  ap- 
peared to  have  been  lamed  in  its  wing,  hopped 
before  them  on  the  path,  and  endeavored  to  get 
away — they  pursued  it  to  a  corner  of  the  field,  but 
it  made  its  escape  through  the  hedge.  Emma  stoop- 
ed to  look  after  it,  and  discovered  a  profusion  of  her 
old  favorites,  the  heart's-ease,  blowing  on  the  bank, 
in  the  richest  beauty. 

"  0  !  Mamma,  Mamma,"  she  exclaimed,  "  I  have 
found" and  there  she  stopped,  with  the  pain- 
ful recollections  that  arose  at  the  moment. 

"You  have  found  some  old  friends,  I  believe, 
Emma,"  replied  her  Mother. 

Emma.  Why  no.  Mamma,  not  exactly  so :  but  of 
that  race. 

"  Some  of  the  very  same  that  my  Emma  brought 
from  her  home,"  said  Mrs.  Merton. 

Emma.  Impossible,  Mamma. 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  43 

Mrs.  M.  Not  at  all,  my  dear :  I  foresaw  from  the 
unhappy  nature  of  your  feelings  at  the  time,  that 
your  heart's-ease  would  command  but  little  of  your 
care  ;  and  after  yon  were  gone  to  rest,  on  the  even- 
ing of  your  arrival,  I  removed  a  root  from  the  gar- 
den to  this  spot;  to  prove  whether,  under  proper 
treatment,  heart's-ease  would  not  thrive  even  here. 

Emma.  O !  my  dear  Mamma,  what  a  lesson 
those  flowers  give  me  ! 

'•'  A  sweet  lesson,"  said  Mary,  "  that  shows  us 
what  we  may  learn  by  considering  the  lilies  of  the 
field  how  they  grow." 

"  Yes,  added  Mrs.  Merton,  •'  He  who  clothes  them, 
will  not  only  give  us  covering  for  our  bodies,  but 
will  also  adorn  us  with  humility,  meekness,  patience, 
and  every  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  if  such  be  our  desire. 
Let  us  but  do  our  part,  as  faithful  laborers  ;  and  see 
here  a  proof  that  He  will  not  fail  to  perform  his." 

"Sweet  little  flower,"  thought  Emma,  as  she  placed 
one  in  her  bosom,  "  you  shall  be  my  preacher." 

It  was  not  long  after  this,  that  Mrs.  Merton  be- 
came quite  unable  to  leave  her  bed;  and  the  medical 
gentleman  whom  Mr.  Selby  had  introduced  to  her, 
confessed  that  he  had  no  hope  of  seeing  her  again 
quit  it  alive.  Emma  nursed  her  mother  with  the 
tenderest  care  ;  and  Mary  shortened  the  time  usually 
allotted  to  her  other  charitable  works,  to  share  the 
task — '  For,'  thought  she,  'here  are  the  fatherless 
and  the  widow  in  affliction,  looking  to  us  for  suc- 
cor ;   and  He  has  said,  "  I  will  have  mercy  and  not 


48  THE   SIMPLE   FLOtv^ER. 

sacrifice."  My  Bible  and  Missionary  box  may  bt 
less  full ;  but  this  present  work  is  given  to  me,  and 
I  must  do  it  with  all  my  might.'— And  so  indeed  she 
did ;  for  when  Mrs.  Merton  became  much  worse, 
she  asked  and  obtained  leave  of  her  parents  to  stay 
entirely  with  Emma,  and  a  clever  old  nurse,  whom 
Mr.  Selby  had  sent  to  attend  the  cottage. 

The  heart's-ease,  from  the  fields,  still  formed  a 
part  in  ever\^  bouquet  which  the  girls  prepared  foi* 
their  beloved,  but  dying  charge;  and  Mrs.  Merton 
would  smile  as  she  bade  Emma  observe  how  well  it 
graced  a  sick  room  ;  often  outliving  all  the  flowers 
from  the  garden,  and  expanding  one  little  bud  after 
another,  as  if  still  in  its  native  soil. 

"I  never  loved  it  so  well,"  said  Emma,  trying  to 
hide  her  tears,  "  as  since  it  cheered  your  painful 
hours,  Mamma." 

"  I  cannot  help  preferring  hyacinths,  and  other 
bulbous  roots,"  remarked  Mary. 

Mrs.  M.  Why,  my  dear  ? 

Emma.  Because  they  give  a  more  striking  idea 
of  the  resurrection.  iMadam.  When  I  bury  such  a 
thing  in  the  earth,  and  consider  what  a  different  and 
lovely  object  will  arise,  I  seem  to  comprehend  the 
feeling  under  wllich  St.  Paul  wrote  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians — it 
fills  my  mind  with  such  delightful  hopes  and  antici- 
pations. 

"Yet  I  cannot  give  up  my  heart's-ease,"  said 
Emma. 


THE   StMPLE   FLOW'ER.  47 

^'  The  Lord  has  given  us,"  said  Mrs.  Merton, 
"  a  great  variety  of  beautiful  types,  my  children  ,  one 
flower  may  more  aptly  represent  to  us  the  mortal 
life,  another  the  future  state  of  the  Christian,  while 
all  proclaim  the  tidings  of  their  Maker's  power, 
and  providential  care. — Nothing  is  formed  in  vain  : 
whatever  we  overlook,  in  this  wide  and  wonderful 
creation,  is  a  loss  to  ourselves ;  for  all  speak  elo- 
quently of  Him  for  whose  pleasure  they  are  and 
were  created." 

"But  some  are  so  small  that  we  cannot  examine 
them,"  said  Emma. 

"Yes,"  replied  her  Mother,  "man,  as  he  ap- 
proaches further  in  science,  makes  new  discoveries 
of  his  own  ignorance.  The  solar  microscope,  an 
instrument  that  magnifies  every  object  to  many 
thousand  times  its  natural  size,  shows  a  small  tuft 
of  the  common  grass,  when  running  to  seed,  in  in- 
conceivable beauty,  as  the  richest  flower  of  delicate 
green,  studded  and  fringed  with  silver--a  most 
magnificent  object,  3^et  trod  under  our  feet  without 
a  thought.  When  the  Apostle  declares  the  glory  of 
man  to  be  as  the  flower  of  grass,  he  likens  it  to  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  as  well  as  fragile  things  in 
nature  :  '  the  wind  passeth  over  it,  and  it  is  gone — 
but  the  word  of  the  Lord  shall  endure  for  ever  5'  and 
that  is  the  word  of  the  Gospel,  which  brings  to  light 
life  and  immortality,  and  shows  to  our  sight  of 
faith,  a  glory  that  cannot  fade." 

In  such   conversations   as  these,   Mrs.   Merton 


48  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

passed  the  hours,  when  she  had  strength  sufficient; 
and  in  listening  to  the  blessed  word  of  life,  accom- 
panied, as  it  alway  was,  with  united  prayer,  and 
frequently  with  the  plain  and  forcible  exposition  of 
the  pious  Mr.  Selby. 

That  kind  minister  had  visited  Mrs.  Merton  one 
day,  and  delicately  told  her,  that  on  her  departure 
it  was  the  wish  of  himself  and  his  wife,  to  receive 
Emma  as  an  inmate  of  their  house,  and  to  educate 
her  with  their  Mary.  The  heart  of  Mrs.  Merton 
sang  for  joy  at  this  intimation  ;  and  since  an  allow- 
ance was  reserved  for  Emma  in  the  wreck  of  their 
property,  that  would  prevent  her  ever  being  a  bur- 
den on  these  generous  friends,  she  had  no  difficulty 
in  accepting  the  offer. 

On  that  night  she  was  so  ill  that  Mary  and  Emma 
would  not  leave  her  apartment ;  and  Mrs.  Merton, 
conscious  that  the  hand  of  death  was  upon  her,  did 
not  wish  to  deprive  them  of  a  scene  so  awful  and 
so  instructive. 

After  a  time  she  appeared  to  slumber,  and  Mary 
whispered  to  Emma,  "  Now  let  us  read  togethei'  and 
pray." 

"  Let  us  read,"  replied  Emma,  "  the  last  chapter 
of  Hosea." 

"  Why  that?"  asked  Mary. 

"  Because,"  said  Emma,  "  that  chapter  brought  so 
much  comfort  to  me,  when  my  own  sinfulness  had 
made  me  so  very  miserable ;  it  helped  me  to  praise 
the  Lord,  when  I  felt  that  his  anger  began  to  be 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  40 

turned  away  ;  and  it  suits  mc  now,  becaui'-e  it  assures 
me  that  in  Him  the  fatherless  findetn  mercy." 

They  read  the  chapter,  and  Mary  cor/ld  not  but 
feel  how  applicable  it  was  to  poor  Emma. 

They  prayed,  and  then  Mary  said,  "  You  are  much 
supported,  dear  Emma." 

"Yes,  I  am,"  she  replied,  while  wiping  away  the 
tears  that  streamed  down  her  cheeks.  "  My  mother 
is  about  to  be  taken  away  from  this  world,  to  eternal 
glory,  but  my  less  will  be  her  great  gain.  If  I 
could  tell  you,  Mary,  all  that  passed  in  my  mind  Tor 
some  months  after  our  first  acquaintance,  yon  would 
say  the  Lord  is  wonderful  indeed  in  his  doings 
toward  the  children  of  men.  If  I  had  net  be-^n  so 
corrected,  my  soul  would  have  been  loet :  and  if  I 
had  not  been  so  comforted,  rny  heart  world  have 
broken.  And  it  would  break  now,"  she  added, 
looking  toward  the  bed,  and  sobbing,  "only  that  I 
know  where  she  is  going." 

"  Yes,  my  dear  Emma,"  said  Mary,  "  is  there  not 
comfort  in  that?  The  daj^  of  hnmaii  life,  is  -a  day 
of  trouble,'  a  day  of  darkness  and  gloomineoS,  which 
nothing  can  brighren,  but  the  light  of  God's  coun- 
tenance ;  nothing  can  render  comfortable,  but  a 
speedy  answer  of  mercy  and  peace  from  rbove 
When  heart  and  flesh  Aiil,  to  find  the  Lord  '  your 
rock,  your  fortress,  your  deliverer,  your  God,  you:* 
strength  in  whom  you  can  trust,  your  bi  ckler,  and 
the  horn  of  your  salvation,  and  your  high  tov^cr.' 
Sweet  names  !  we  know  little  of  our  wants  anl 
5 


50  THE    SIMPLE    FLOVvER. 

dangers,  or  we  should  better  feel  how  impossible  il 
would  be  to  spare  one  of  the  many  titles  and  charac- 
ters under  vvhich  He  makes  himself  known  to  us. — 
AVliat  comfort  could  we  take  from  all  these  glorious 
sayings,  if  we  did  not  know  that  Jesus  is  Lord,  yea 
Lord  of  lords,  one  with  the  Father,  God  over  all, 
blessed  for  ever  ?  His  sufferings  as  man,  can  atone 
for  the  sins  of  a  guilty  w^orld. — I  love  to  think  of  the 
Lord  Jesps  now,  as  holding  the  keys  of  death  and 
of  hell — as  'He  that  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth  j 
that  openeth  and  no  man  shutteth.' " 

"  Yes,"  added  Emma,  •'  He  which  was  dead  and 
IS  alive." 

•'  And  therefore,"  said  Mary,  "  because  he  was 
dead  and  is  alive,  he  says  unto  us,  '  Fear  not.' 
Death  is  no  longer  an  object  of  fear ;  for  the  Lord 
Jescs  has  been  in  the  grave,  to  overcome  him  who 
hath  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the  devil.  And 
since  he  is  God,  we  are  sure  he  has  power  to 
quicken  whom  he  will,  and  to  fulfil  his  promise. 
He  has  said,  '  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also.'  1 
could  not  trust  a  Saviour  M'ho  was  less  than 
Almighty.  Let  us  be  thankful  then  that  our  young 
minds  are  impressed  with  these  precious  truths. 
How  many,  even  at  this  hour,  may  be  watching  the 
last  breath  of  those  who  are  no  less  dear  to  them 
than  this  departing  soul  is  to  us :  they  think  of 
heaven  as  a  desirable  place  ;  and  recollecting  all 
that  was  most  endearing  in  the  character  and  con- 
duct of  the  object  before  them,  they  look  upon 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  5] 

eternal  life  as  the  sure  reward  of  such  an  amiable 
person.  Alas !  how  many  believe  that  a  decent 
attention  to  outward  duties,  and  a  patient  submission 
to  sickness  or  sorrow,  shall  be  crowned  with  glory, 
and  honor,  and  immortality!" 

"  They  do  not  consider,"  Emma  replied,  "  that 
their  worst  sufferings  are  infinitely  less  than  they 
must  deserve,  if  it  was  only  because  the  best  that 
they  can  do  falls  so  far  short  of  what  God  requires. 
And  tlieir  obedience  would  not  purchase  heaven  if  it 
was  perfect,  for  you  know  the  Lord  bids  lis  confess 
that  we  are  unprofitable  servants;  after  doing  all,  it 
is  no  more  than  our  duty — and  by  the  deeds  of  the 
law  can  no  flesh  be  justified." 

Mary  remarked,  "  The  low  notions  that  people  in 
general  have  of  heaven  make  them  suppose  it  is  so 
easily  earned.  Do  they  consider  that  '  eye  hath  not 
seen  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  the  things  M'hich  God  hath  prepared 
for  them  that  love  him  V — do  they  know  what  it  is 
*  to  see  His  face,'  and  '  have  His  name  written  in  theip 
foreheads ;'  to  be  'a  pillar  in  His  temple*  and  to 
*go  no  more  out?'  The  soul  must  be  fitted  and 
prepared  to  enjoy  the  glories  of  heaven,  by  making 
communion  with  God,  in  prayer,  and  in  His  word 
and  service,  its  delight  on  earth.  If  these  things 
are  strange  or  wearisome  to  us  now,  they  would  be 
so  then.  The  most  beautiful  scenery  has  no  cliarms 
for  the  blind,  nor  the  sweetest  music  for  the  deaf  ^ 
nor  could  the  presence  of  glorified  spirits,  oi  hol;^ 


52  THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER. 

angels,  and  of  God  himself,  delight  the  soul  that 
continues  '  earthly,  sensual,  devilish,' — such  are  all 
^vho  have  not  been  renewed  in  the  image  of  their 
Maker." 

"  Yet  how  many  die  in  this  false  peace,"  said 
Emma:  "  they  'have  no  bands  in  their  death:'  but 
the  delusion  in  which  they  perish  is  their  own  choice. 
They  know  that  the  Bible  reveals  God's  will  to  man  : 
they  are  aware  that  unless  they  do  His  will,  they 
cannot  please  him  :  3^et  they  put  that  book  aside, 
and  marking  out  a  path  of  duties  of  their  own 
choosing,  they  determine  to  get  to  heaven  by  that 
broad  road,  rather  than  seek  the  one  narrow  way 
that  He  has  appointed.  It  is  so  wonderful  to  see 
God's  Vv'ord  neglected,  where  his  name  is  confessed, 
and  his  worship  carried  on,  that  if  we  did  not  too 
cleady  behold  it,  we  could  scarcely  believo  it  pos- 
sible." 

"  3Iy  Mamma  never  neglected  it,"  said  Emma  ; 
"in  prosperity  it  seemed  to  keep  her  humble;  and 
in  adversity  to  make  her  cheerful;  while,  as  you 
well  know,  it  has  been  the  best  medicine  to  her  in 
sickness,  and  now  smooths  the  bed  of  death," — her 
heart  was  too  fall  to  say  more. 

"  It  lias  lighted  her  steps."  exclaimed  Mary,  "  to 
the  entrance  of  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  : 
and  now  the  Loud  himself  will  be  her  light  and 
support,  while  she  is  passing  through  that  valley." 

"  O  yes,"  said  Emma  with  animation,  "the  Lord 
will  surely  come  :  He  says,  '  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 


THE    SIMPLE    FLOWER.  53 

for  you  ;  and  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  1 
will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself  j  that 
where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also.'  " 

Mrs.  Merton  extended  her  hand  to  her  child,  and 
in  a  faint  voice  said,  "  Here  is  a  word  of  comfort 
from  that  well-spring  of  consolation,  the  holy  Bible. 
David  could  say,  when  in  affliction,  'My  flesh  and 
my  heart  faileth  ;  but  God  is  the  strength  of  my 
heart  and  my  portion  for  ever.'  He  said  tliis  be- 
cause he  could  also  say,  '  Whom  have  I  in  heaven 
but  thee '?  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  de- 
sire beside  thee.'  '  In  his  presence  is  fulness  of 
joy;  and  at  his  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for 
evermore.' " 
They  drew  nearer  to  her,  and  she  went  on  : — 
"  '  The  sting  of  death  is  sin.'  You  have  felt  the 
sharpness  of  that  sting,  my  Emma,  in  the  days  of 
3^our  health.  O  remember,  then,  how  terrible  it 
must  be  when  heart  and  flesh  are  failing  !  Remem- 
ber Him  who  alone  can  take  it  away;  and  so  live  to 
him,  that  in  a  dying  hour  he  may  not  forsake  you. 
It  is  sweet  to  be  stayed  upon  him :  it  is  sweet  to 
feel,  when  approaching  the  deep  waters  of  death, 

that 

*  Safe  is  the  expanded  wave, 
Gentle  as  a  summer's  eve  ; 
Not  one  object  of  his  care 
Ever  suiTer'd  shipwreck  there.'  " 

Mrs.  Merton  paused,  for  she  was  exhausted :  yet 
her  lips  moved  in  pra3^er,  and  there  was  a  lovely 


64  THE    SIMPLE   FLOWER. 

smile  upon  them.  The  young  girls  felt  awe-struck  j 
and  pressed  close  to  each  other's  side.  The  good 
old  nurse  passed  her  arm  around  them. 

"  There  is  nothing  terrible  in  death,  my  children," 
said  she,  "  when  we  know  that  it  is  the  gate  of  life." 

"  Nothing  terrible,  nothing,  nothing,"  said  Mrs. 
Merton. 

Mary  bent  down  her  head,  and  ventured  to 
whisper,  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth  us  the 
victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

"  Thanks,  thanks  be  to  God,"  repeated  Mrs.  Mer- 
ton, and  expired. 

It  was  on  a  very  chill  evening,  quite  after  the 
close  of  autumn,  that  Emma  and  Mary  visited  the 
spot  where  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Merton  were  laid  to  rest. 
Mr.  Selby  had  taken  them  there  to  enjoy  this  sad 
satisfaction.  The  wind  whistled  through  the  yew 
tree,  and  its  dark  branches  waved  like  the  plume  of 
a  hearse.  The  grass  was  yellow  and  matted,  the 
rose  trees  were  bare,  all  looked  dreary  and  melan-" 
choly;  but  the  lingering  blossoms  of  the  heart's-ease 
yet  shone  amid  the  scene  of  desolation,  and  peeped 
forth  from  among  the  dry  stalks  and  shrivelled 
leaves  tfiat  surrounded  them.  Emma  looked  :  she 
smiled  through  her  tears ;  a  sensation  of  delight 
stole  over  her  spirit,  and,  as  she  turned  away  from 
the  beloved  spot,  she  murmured, 

"  These  sweet  little  flowers  thrive  every  where." 

THE    END. 


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J  BEAUTIFUL  BOOKS, 

'4  PUBLISHED  BY  THE  GEN.  PROT.  EPIS.  S.  SCHOOL  UNION, 
Depository  20  JToliii  St.  N.  Y. 


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AND  OTHER  SUNDAY  STORJES, 

By  Archdeacon^  Wileerforce 


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BEAUTIFUL  BOOKS, 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  GEN.  PROT.  EPIS.  S.  SCHOOL  UNIOK 
©epository  20  J^oiin  St.  IV.  Y. 

THIS  wimTmms  tailm. 


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OR     THE 

EARLY  DAYS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

IN    BRITAIN. 


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BEAUTIFUL  BOOKS, 


(PUBLISHED  BY  THE  GEN.  PROT.  EPIS.  S,  SCHOOL  UNION.  J^ 
depository  20  JToliiii  St.  i\.  Y» 


THE 


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ANNIVERSARY     SERMON 

TO  THE 

S   C  t)   0   0   (  s 


BELONGING  TO  THE 


PROTESTANT     EPISCOPAl 

SUNDAY    SCHOOL    UNION 


CITY    OF    NEW-YORK. 

Delivered  in  St.  John's  Chapel  in  the  Morning  and  St.  Thomas'  Church  in  I 
Afternoon  of  Wednesday,  10th  April,  1833. 

BY     LEWIS     P.    BAYARD, 

Rector  of  St.  aement'sChuich. 


NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  GEN.  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPlt 

SUNRAY    SCHOOL 

UNION. 


ANNIVERSARY      SERMON. 


*'  And  now,  little  children,  abide  in  Him,  that  when  he  shall  appear  we  maj 
have  confidence  and  not  be  ashamed  before  him  at  his  coming." — 1  John  ii.  28. 


These  words  were  written  by  the  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved ;  and  as  we  generally  love  those  who 
are  most  like  ourselves,  we  may  judge  that  our 
Saviour  loved  St.  John  because  he  was  more  like 
him  than  any  of  the  other  disciples.  And  how 
great  a  praise  it  is  to  be  like  Christ.  God  we  are 
told  is  love ;  and  as  Christ  is  God,  so  Christ  is 
also  love.  In  this  divine  virtue  St.  John  seems  in 
a  very  particular  manner  to  have  been  like  our 
Saviour.  Like  him  he  was  kind  and  condescend- 
ing, gentle  and  affectionate,  in  all  his  words  and 
actions.  Thus  in  his  words  how  tenderly  he 
speaks  in  the  text  to  all  who  love  God,  calling  them 
little  children,  that  is,  like  little  children,  humble 
and  ready  to  receive  instruction.  In  the  same 
manner  our  Saviour  says  to  his  disciples,  "  Little 
children,  yet  a  little  while  I  am  with  you  :"  and 
again  he  says,  "  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatso- 
ever I  command  you :"  and  again,  "  As  my  Father 
hath  loved  me,  so  have  I  loved  youj  continue  ye 

(  3  ) 


4  ANNIVERSARY   SERMON. 

in  my  love.  If  ye  keep  my  commandments  ye 
shall  abide  in  my  love,  even  as  I  have  kept  my 
Father's  commandments,  and  abide  in  his  love. 
This  is  my  commandment,  that  ye  love  one  an- 
other as  I  have  loved  you." 

Now  in  the  writings  of  St.  John,  especially  in 
his  epistles,  this  commandment  of  love  to  God 
seems  to  be  the  one  of  all  others  upon  which  he 
delights  to  speak,  and  which  he  urges  as  the  great 
distinguishing  law  of  the  Christian  religion,  without 
an  observance  of  which  all  pretences  to  goodness 
are  false  and  useless :  and  it  is  related  that  when 
he  was  very  old  and  infirm,  and  no  longer  able  to 
preach,  he  was  carried  to  church,  where  all  he 
could  say  was,  "Little  children,  love  one  another:" 
and  when  the  congregation  was  wearied  by  his 
repeating  the  same  thing,  and  inquired  why  he  did 
so,  he  answered,  because  it  was  the  command  of 
our  Lord,  and  that  if  they  did  nothing  else,  this 
alone  was  enough. 

This  venerable  Apostle  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
had  great  reason  to  write  the  words  of  the  text. 
He  was  surrounded  by  many  persons  who  were 
opposed  to  the  Gospel  of  the  Redeemer;  not  only 
were  the  Christians  persecuted  by  the  Jews,  who 
denied  that  Christ  was  the  true  Messiah,  but  they 
were  cruelly  put  to  death  by  the  Gentile  or 
Heathen  rulers,  who  denied  the  living  and  true 
Jehovah,  and  worshipped  the  idols  of  wood  and  at 
stone  which  their  own  hands  had  made,  and  their 


ANNIVERSARY    SERMON.  9 

own  ignorance  had  led  them  to  honor  as  gods. 
There  were  also  false  teachers  among  the  number 
of  those  who  professed  and  called  themselves 
Christians,  who  denied  that  Christ  was  God, 
thereby  attempting  to  take  away  from  the  Gospel 
its  most  important  and  essential  truth,  —  a  truth 
without  which  our  preaching  would  be  vain,  and 
your  faith  in  Christ  would  be  also  vain.  For  if 
Christ  had  been  only  a  man,  how  could  his  death 
be  considered  more  valuable  than  that  of  any  other 
good  man.  But  he  declares  in  his  Gospel,  "  I  am 
the  resurrection  and  the  life,  he  that  believeth  in 
me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live  :"  and 
who  but  God  could  say  this  with  truth  ?  Such 
being  the  enemies  of  the  Gospel  by  whom  the 
Apostle  was  surrounded,  you  see  the  reason  why 
he  speaks  as  he  does  in  the  text :  "  Now,  little 
children,  abide  in  Him."  Now,  while  you  are  ex- 
posed to  the  persecution  of  your  open  enemies,  or 
to  the  danger  of  false  doctrine  from  your  pre- 
tended friends,  "  abide  in  him,"  the  Lord  of  all 
power  and  might  without  whom  nothing  is  strong 
and  nothing  is  holy.  You  are  not  to  suppose  be- 
cause the  Apostle  says  now  in  the  text,  that  he 
would  have  us  confine  the  application  of  his  words 
to  the  age  only  in  which  he  lived:  it  may  with 
equal  force  apply  to  all  ages  of  the  Church  until 
the  end  of  time.  At  all  times  the  exhortation  of 
the  text  may  be  addressed  to  all  Christians,  and  the 
ministers  of  Christ  may  say,  "  Now,  little  child- 
1* 


O  ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 

ren,  abide  in  him :"  for  the  Gospel  has  the  same 
holy  comfort  to  offer  now  that  it  ever  had. 

The  same  hope  of  pardon  is  still  held  out  by  it 
to  all  penitent  sinners  ;  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil  are  still  our  enemies,  from  whom  we  are  still 
as  much  in  danger  as  they  were  to  whom  St.  John 
wrote  this  letter.  We  are  as  much  tempted  by 
infirmities  within  and  allurements  without,  and  as 
much  require  the  admonition  which  another  apostle 
has  given,  "to  be  steadfast  and  unmoveable,  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord."  Now,  there- 
fore, we  are  as  much  as  ever  called  to  "  abide  in 
Him,"  as  the  strongest  tower  of  our  refuge  from 
danger;  now,  in  all  time  of  our  prosperity,  in  all 
lime  of  our  adversity,  in  the  most  joyous  scenes  of 
hfe,  and  at  the  closing  trial  of  death,  He  is  still  the 
same  Almighty  Helper  and  Saviour,  "  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever." 

But  the  word  7iow  may  be  considered  with  a 
more  particular  reference  to  you,  my  dear  child- 
ren, who  are  assembled  and  met  together  on  the 
present  occasion,  "  to  render  thanks  to  God  for  the 
great  benefits  that  you  have  received  at  his  hands, 
to  set  fortli  his  most  worthy  praise,  to  hear  his 
most  holy  word,  and  to  ask  those  things  which  are 
requisite  and  necessary  as  well  for  the  body  as  the 
Boul."  N'ow  in  the  days  of  thy  youth  remember 
thy  Creator;  while  yet  you  are  in  the  way  ot 
being  taught  your  Christian  duties  by  your  parents 
at  home,  or  by  your  teachers  in  the  Sunday  School, 


ANNIVERSARY   SERMON.  7 

and  by  God's  ministers,  whose  sermons  you  hear 
every  Sunday  in  church.  When  you  grow  up  to 
be  men  and  women,  you  may  not  have  so  much 
time  to  attend  to  these  things  as  you  now  enjoy  ; 
and  if  you  had  the  time  you  would  not  any  longer 
have  the  opportunity,  for  you  know  they  are  not 
men  and  women  who  are  the  scholars  in  our  Sun- 
day Schools;  but  children  as  you  are,  and  some  of 
you  "  little  children,''^  as  St.  John  calls  you  in  the 
text,  saying,  "  Now,  little  cliildren,  abide  in  Him." 
When  you  grow  up  you  will  some  of  you  perhaps 
go  to  far  distant  places,  where  you  may  have  none 
of  the  advantages  of  Christian  knowledge  which 
you  now  possess;  therefore  now,  while  you  have 
kind  teachers  ready  to  instruct  you  in  the  way  to 
be  happy  all  your  life,  in  the  way  to  die  without 
fear,  and  in  the  glorious  hope  of  going  to  heaven, 
there  to  dwell  with  God  for  ever;  now  learn  all 
you  can  of  these  divine  truths  of  God's  holy  word, 
which  you  are  constantly  taught  in  the  Sunday 
School  and  at  church.  As  the  bee  works  hard  all 
the  summer  to  make  honey  for  its  food  in  winter, 
so  do  you  with  liko  industry  now  in  the  season  o! 
childhood  and  of  youth,  lay  up  in  the  storehouse 
of  your  heart  and  mind  those  precious  truths  ol 
the  Bible,  which  will  be  to  you  a  very  present 
help  in  the  time  of  trouble,  "  in  the  hour  of  death, 
and  at  the  day  of  judgment."  "  Now  is  the 
accepted  time  ;  now  is  the  day  of  salvation.'^'' 
"  Now,  little  children,  abide  in  Him."    In  whom  ? 


8  ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 

you  ask, — I  answer,  in  God,  in  Christ.  Thus 
Christ  himself  says  lo  his  disciples,  "  I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches  ;  as  the  branch  cannot 
bear  fruit  of  itself  except  it  abide  in  the  vine,  no 
more  can  ye  unless  ye  abide  in  me."  Now,  I  think, 
I  heai-  you  say,  what  is  it  to  abide  in  Christ?  This 
is  what  I  wish  very  clearly  to  explain,  so  that  you 
all  may  be  able  to  understand  it.  Our  Saviour 
explains  it  in  the  words  I  have  just  told  you  ;  he 
spoke  to  his  disciplas,  saying,  "  I  am  the  vine,  ye 
are  the  branches^  Christ  is  the  vine,  and  all 
Christians  are  united  to  Christ,  as  the  branch  to 
the  vine;  and  being  tlius  united  to  him  is  abiding 
in  Kim.  If  a  branch  is  broken  off  from  a  vine,  or 
from  a  tree,  we  know  it  soon  withers  away  and 
dies,  and  is  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  burned. 
And  so,  if  after  being  Christians,  we  should  become 
so  wicked  as  to  renounce  Christ,  we  should  be  like 
this  withered  branch,  good  for  nothing  in  this 
world,  and  fit  only  to  depart  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment from  the  left  hand  of  our  Judge  into  that  "  ever- 
lasting fire,"  which  our  Saviour  tells  us  is  •'  prepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels."  Now  Christ  is  the 
head  of  the  Church,  and  the  Church  is  said  to  be 
his  "  body."  " -S?/  one  spirit  vje  are  baptized  into 
one  body?''  The  most  of  you  here  present,  I 
should  think,  have  been  baptized.  You  thus 
became,  in  the  language  of  the  Catechism,  '•  mem- 
bers of  Christ,  children  of  God,  and  inheritors  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven."     Great  is  your  privilege  in 


ANNIVERSARY   SERMON.  9 

b«.iiig  thus  made  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ  : 
for  you  here  receive  instruction  in  all  those  things 
wnich  concern  your  present  and  everlasting  happi- 
ness. You  are  here  taught  to  fear  God  and  to  keep 
his  commandments.  You  are  here  taught  how 
Christ  loved  you,  and  came  from  heaven  to  seek 
and  to  save  those  who  were  living  in  ignorance  and 
wickedness.  Good  people,  ever  since  the  world 
began,  have  belonged  to  the  Church  of  God  ;  and 
when  they  have  died  they  have  gone  to  heaven  to 
be  for  ever  with  God  and  with  the  holy  angels. 
Now,  since  you  have  joined  such  holy  and  vener- 
able company  as  that  which  composes  the  true 
Church  of  God,  you  are  directed  by  the  good  old 
Apostle,  in  the  text,  to  continue  in  that  faith,  and 
love,  and  every  virtue  which  the  Gospel  teaches 
you  are  the  marks  or  badges  by  which  true 
Christians  are  to  be  known.  "  Now,  little  child- 
ren, abide  in   Him." 

I  hope  you  understand  now  what  it  is  to  abide 
in  Christ.  When  you  grow  up  and  have  left  the 
Sunday  School,  you  will  have  to  meet  with  many 
very  wicked  people,  some  of  whom  may,  perhaps, 
try  to  make  you  ashamed  of  being  good.  Now, 
I  tell  you  of  this  beforehand,  in  order  to  warn 
you  against  the  danger;  and  to  keep  you  from 
such  a  danger,  I  could  not  think  of  any  better 
words  to  say  to  you,  than  those  of  the  Apostle  in 
the  text,  "  Now,  little  children,  abide  in  Him." 
You  must  remember  what  is  said  by  the  minister, 


10  ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 

when  he  marks  with  the  sign  of  the  cro-ss  those  he 
baptizes.  You  know  he  there  says,  "  We  receive 
this  child  into  the  congregation  of  Christ's  flock, 
and  do  sign  him  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  in  token 
that  hereafter  he  shall  not  be  ashamed  to  confess 
the  faith  of  Christ  crucified,  and  manfully  to  fight 
under  his  banner  against  sin,  the  world,  and  the 
devil,  and  to  continue  Christ's  faithful  soldier  and 
servant  unto  his  life's  end,"— that  is  "  to  abide  in 
Him." 

Now,  that  you  may  remember  all  your  life  what 
it  is  to  abide  in  Christ,  I  will  tell  you  about  a  good 
old  man  who  was  a  bishop,*  and  was  the  friend  and 
companion  of  St.  John,  who  wrote  the  words  of  the 
text. 

The  name  of  this  good  bishop  was  Polycarp.t 
The  v/icked  Heathen  rulers,  who  hated  the  Chris- 
tians, had  him  brought  before  them,  and  tried  to 
make  him  blaspheme  Christ.  To  which  Polycarp 
replied,  ^"  Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  him, 
and  he  hath  never  wronged  me,  and  how  can  I  now 
blaspheme  my  King  and  Saviour?"  "  I  have  wild 
beasts,"  said  the  wicked  ruler.  "  Call  them,"  said 
Polycarp.  "  I  will  tame  your  spirit  by  fire,"  said 
the  Roman  tyrant.  "  You  threaten  me,"  said 
Polycarp,  "  with  the  fire  which  burns  only  for  a 
moment,  but  are  yourself  ignorant  of  the  fire  of 
eternal  punishment  reserved  for  the  wicked  in  the 


♦  /f«e  Note  A  at  the  encL  t  See  Note  B  at  the  pad. 


ANNIVERSARY    SERMON.  II 

Other  world."  When  they  had  tied  him  to  a  stake 
and  kindled  the  fire  around  him,  yet  he  chose  to  con- 
tinue Christ's  faithful  soldier  and  servant  nnto  his 
life's  end  ;  and  he  offered  the  following  prayer  : — 
''  O  Father  of  thy  beloved  and  blessed  Son  Jesus 
Christ, — O  God  of  all  principalities  and  of  all 
creation,  I  bless  thee,  that  thou  hast  counted  me 
worthy  of  this  day  and  this  hour  to  receive  my 
portion  in  the  number  of  the  martyrs  in  the  cup  of 
Christ.  I  praise  thee  for  all  these  things.  I  bless 
thee,  I  glorify  thee,  by  the  Eternal  High  Priest, 
Jesus  Christ,  thy  beloved  Son,  through  whom  and 
with  whom,  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  glory  to  Thee 
both  now  and  for  ever.  Amen." — Thus  you  learn, 
my  dear  children,  how  you  are  to  abide  in  Christ. 
You  must  believe  in  him,  you  must  love  him,  and 
you  must  serve  and  honor  him  all  the  days  of  your 
life ;  then  see  what  the  Apostle  shows  you  will  be 
the  reward  of  your  faithfulness, — "  When  He 
shall  appear  we  may  have  confidence,  and  not  be 
ashamed  before  Him  at  his  coming:"  that  is,  at 
the  day  of  judgment  we  shall  have  confidence,  and 
not  be  ashamed  before  him.  You  all  know  the 
meaning  of  ''  having  confidence"  and  "  being 
ashamed."  You  have  "  confidence"  when,  having 
done  well,  you  approach  your  parents  or  teachers  ; 
you  come  to  them  with  joy,  knowing  that  you  will 
receive  their  approbation.  But  on  the  contrary^ 
when  you  have  done  wrong,  you  are  "  ashamed" 
to  look  them  in  the  foce,  for  you  feel  guilty,  and 


1*<5  ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 

know  that  you  have  justly  deserved  their  dis- 
pleasure. Now  you  see  what  the  Apostle  means  in 
the  text,  when  he  says,  "  If  you  will  abide  in 
Christ,  that  in  the  day  of  judgment  you  shall 
have  confidence  and  not  be  ashamed  before  him." 
A.nd  at  that  day,  dear  children,  I  do  most  sincerely 
hope,  you  all  may  "  have  confidence  and  not  be 
ashamed"  before  your  Saviour,  when  he  comes  to 
judge  the  world.  But  in  order  that  you  may  be 
thus  eternally  happy,  remember,  you  must  "  abide" 
in  Christ. 

It  has  given  me  very  great  pleasure  to  see  so 
many  of  you,  my  dear  children,  assembled  in  this 
Temple  of  the  Lord;  and  I  hope  you  will  never 
forget  what  has  now  been  said  to  you.  I  hope  you 
will  improve  the  present  advantages  which  the 
noble  institution  of  the  Sunday  School  is  now 
affording  you;  that  you  will  love  God's  word;  that 
you  will  love  God's  Church  ;  that  you  will  love 
God's  holy  day  ;  that  you  will  obey  and  love  your 
parents  and  your  tenchers;  and  that  you  will  love 
one  another.  Growing  up  in  this  divine  love, 
which  is  the  "  fulfilling  of  the  law,"  you  will  thus 
be  prepared  to  be  useful  and  happy  in  the  world  as 
men  and  women  ;  and  when  death  comes  you  will 
then  be  prepared  with  confidence  to  appear  before 
your  heavenly  Father,  because  you  will  have  your 
Saviour  for  your  friend,  and  you  know  he  has  pro- 
mised in  the  day  of  judgment,  to  all  who  truly 
love  and  serve  him,  that  he  will  say,  "  Come,  ye 


ANNIVERSARY    SERMON.  13 

blessed  children  of  my  Father,  receive  thekingdoni 
prepared  for  you  from  the  beginning  of  the  world." 
God  grant  that  this  may  be  the  happy  sentence 
which  you  ail  may  receive  at  that  day,  for  Jesus 
Christ's  sake. 


Note   A. 

The  word  bishop  means  an  ''overseer,"  and  this  shows  what 
is  the  nature  of  his  office.  He  is  tlie  overseer  of  all  the  ministers 
and  congregations  in  iiis  diocese  or  state.  He  is  the  chief  minister, 
ae  a  general  in  the  army  is  coniinanJer-in-chief,  having  colonels 
and  captains  under  him;  so  the  bishop  is  chief  ruler,  and  has 
under  his  authority  the  priests  and  deacons  who  belong  to  his 
diocese.  This  was  the  way  all  Churches  were  governed  in  the 
time  of  the  Apostles,  and  for  1500  years  afterward  ;  and  this  is 
one  reason  that  we  say  in  the  Creed,  "  I  believe  one  Catholic 
Apostolic  Church."  The  word  Catholic  means  universal,  and  the 
Episcopal  government  of  the  Church  was  "  universal,"  that  is,  pre- 
vailed all  over  the  world,  from  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  for  1500 
years,  until  it  was  unhappily  changed  by  Calvin  and  some  others, 
who  thereby  became  guilty  of  the  sin  of  schism,  which  every  body 
knows  is  a  great  sin. — See  1  Cor.  iii.  3-5. 

Q.  Is  not  the  Church  "apostolic 7" 

A.  The  Church  is  apostolic,  being  built  on  the  foundation  of  the 
apostles,  &c.  Eph.  ii.  20. 

Q.  How  is  any  Church  now  apostolic  7 

A.  Every  Church  is  apostolic  which  holds  apostolic  doctrine, 
ministry,  sacraments,  and  worship. 

Q.  How  is  any  Church  apostolic  in  its  ministry 

A.  When  it  has  the  orders  of  the  ministry  which  the  apostlea 
constituted. 


14  ANNIVERSARY   SERMON. 

Q..     Whet  orders  are  these  1 

A.  "  Ii  vr,  evideai  unto  all  rnen  diligently  reading  Holy  Scrip- 
ture and  ancieut  aatliors,  that  from  the  apostles'  time  there  have 
been  these  orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's  Church — Bishops, 
Priests,  and  Deacons." 

Q,.   Who  appointed  tiiese  orders  of  the  ministry? 

,4.  God,  by  his  "  Providence  and  Holy  Spirit,"  through  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  apostles. 

Q..  What  is  the  internal  call  to  the  ministry? 

A.  It  is  that  of  the  Holy  Spirit  renewing  tlie  soul,  and  exciting  a 
person  to  take  Ufiou  ium  tlie  ministry  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
salvation  of  ir>-n 

Q.  But  is  not  an  external  call  or  commission  from  God  also 
necessary  to  constitute  a  minister  ? 

A  Yes;  no  man  taketh.  this  honor  unto  himself,  but  he  that  ia 
called  of  God,  as  was  Aaron.     Heb.  v.  4. 

Q.  Did  ever  our  blessed  Lord  exercise  the  ministry  without 
this  divine  commission! 

A.  No:  Christ  glorified  not  himself  to  ,'e  made  a  High 
Priest ;  but  he  that  said  tinto  him,  Tlwu  art  my  Sun,  to-day  have 
.(begotten  thee.     Heb.  v.  5. 

Q,.  From  whom  is  this  commission  to  the  ministry  to  be 
derived  7 

A.  From  Christ  the  Ilead  of  the  Church,  and  therefore  the 
source  of  all  power  in  it. 

Q,.  How  is  this  commission  to  be  derived  from  Christ  1 

A.  Through  the  highest  order  of  the  ministry,  first  called 
Apostles,  now  called  Bishops. 

Q,.  Have  the  Bishops  alone  the  power  of  ordaining  or  conferring 
this  commission  to  the  ministry  7 

^1.  Yes  ;  they  alone  have  the  power  of  ordaining,  that  is,  of  com- 
missioning the  ministry. 

Q.  To  whom  did  Christ  first  give  power  to  ordain  or  com- 
mission the  ministry? 

A.  To  the  apostles  and  their  successors, 

Q.   How  do  you  prove  this  1 


ANNIVERSARY    SERMON.  15 

A.  He  sent,  his  apostles,  and  their  successors  to  the  end  of  the 
toartd,  as  his  Father  sent  him,  to  be  the  ministers  and  governors 
of  his  Church.     Matt,  xxviii.  20;  Jolni  xx.  21. 

Q.  Wlioni  did  t!ic  apostles  commission  as  then-  successors'? 

^1.  Timothy  at  Ephesus,  and  Titus  at  Crete,  were  commissioned 
to  ordain.     J  Tim.  v.  22  ;  Tit.  i.  5. 

Q.  Did  not  the  Elders  or  Presbjrters  wlio  were  tlien  at  Ephesus 
and  Crete  possess  this  power  1 

A.  No;  for  then  it  would  have  been  unnecessary  to  send 
Timothy  and  Titus  there  to  exercise  it. 

Q.  Were  not  Timothy  and  Titus  the  governors  of  tliese  Elders 
or  Presbyters,  and  therefore  superior  to  them  ? 

A.  Yes;  they  were  to  judge  them.     1  Tim.  v.  19;  Tit.  iii.  10. 

Q.  What  were  the  order  of  ministers  who  succeeded  the 
apostles  and  Timothy  and  Titus  in  their  powers  of  ordination  and 
government  called  1 

A.  After  the  death  of  the  apostles,  the  first  order  of  the  ministry 
were  called  Bishops. 

Q.  To  whom  was  this  title  Bisliop  previously  applied  1 

A.  To  the  second  order  of  the  ministry,  then  called  Presbyters  or 
Elders,  ana  ixtw  also  Priests. 

Q.  Were  not  these  Presbyters  or  Elders,  though  called  Bishops, 
inferior  in  office  to  the  apostles  and  their  successors,  afterward 
called  Bishops'? 

A.  Yes  ;  the  apostles,  and  Timothy  and  Titus,  held  distinct  and 
superior  offices,  which  have  been  conveyed  to  those  nov/  called 
Bishops. 

Q.  Is  there  not  proof  in  history  of  tins'? 

A.  Y'es  ;  an  ancient  father,  Theodoret,  !3aj's  expressly,  that  the 
name  of  Apostle  was  left  to  the  earlier  ano.qtlfs;. 

Q.  And  what  title  does  he  say  their  siicce,5Sors  took  7 

A.  Their  successors  in  the  powers  of  ordination  and  governmsn 
look,  he  says,  the  name  oi^  Bishops. 

Q.  Do  not  all  the  writci-s  of  the  Cliurcli  from  the  beginning  bear 
icsiiuiony  to  the  superioiity  of  Bishops? 


16  ANNIVERSARY   SERMON. 

A.  Yes ;  Ignatius,  the  disciple  of  St.  John,  and  all  the  succeeding 
faihers,  bear  decided  testimony  to  tiie  superior  powers  of  ijishopsl 

Q.   State  the  testimony  of  Ignatius. 

A.  Ignatius  says,  "  Let  no  man  do  any  thing  of  what  belongs  to 
-he  Church  without  the  Bishop." 

Q.  How  long   were   Bishops   thus  considei-ed  throughout  the 
universal  Church? 

A.  Until  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  in  the  fifteenth  century 

Q.   Did  iliey  thon  from  the  first  ordain  1 

A.   Yes;  Presbyters   never   assumed   the  power   of  ordinatioQ 
until  the  Reformation. 

Q.  Wiiat  are  the  peculiar  and  superior  powers  of  Bishops? 

A.  To  ordain  persons  to  the  ministry,  and  to  superintend  and 
govern  the  Church. 

Catechism,  No.  III.,  p.  46, 


Note  B. 

Bishop  of  Smyrna,  in  Asia  Minor,  of  whom  Eusebius,  the 
historian,  informs  us,  that  he  was  familiarly  conversant  with  the 
Apostles,  and  received  the  government  of  the  Church  of  Smyrna 
from  those  who  had  been  eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of  our  Lord. 
It  makes  not  a  little  for  the  honor  of  St.  Polycarp,  and  argues  his 
mighty  diligence  for  the  good  of  souls,  that  Ignatius,  passing  to 
his  martyrdom,  v.'rote  to  him  and  particularly  recommended  to  him 
the  inspection  and  oversight  of  his  Church  at  Antioch,  knowing 
hirn  (says  Eusebius)  to  be  truly  an  apostolical  man,  and  being 
assured  that  he  would  use  his  utmost  care  and  fidelity  in  that 
matter.  Smyrna  v/as  near  to  Ephesus.  and  St.  John  seems  to 
have  had  a  more  tlian  ordinary  regard  to  this  Church,  it  being, 
next  Ephesus,  the  first  of  those  peven  famous  Asian  Churches  to 
whom  he  directed  his  epistles,  and  St.  Polycarp  at  tliis  time  bishop 
of  it ;  for  that  he  was  that  ange.l  of  the  Church  of  Smyrna,  to 
whom  St.  Jolin  writes  in  his  Revelation,  is  not  only  higlily  pro- 
bable, but  by  Usher  in  his  Preface  to  the  Epistle  of  Ignatius,  put 
past  all  question. 


Tfif,  following  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  autlior  to  the  child- 
ren of  his  Sunday  School,  immediately  after  a  public  examination. 

The  author  hoi>es  he  iias  accomplished  what  is  set  forth  in  the 
title  page. 

He  publishes  the  sermon  because  he  ventures  to  believe  this 
mode  of  preaching  to  children  is  well  calculated  to  interest  them 
and  secure  their  attention.  He  found  it  so,  in  reference  to  his 
own  school.  For  this,  however,  his  scholars  were  prepared,  as 
the  schools  with  which  he  has  been  for  the  last  two  years  con- 
nected, have  been  conducted  on  the  colloquial  plan.  From  this, 
he  thinks,  very  perceptible  benefits  have  been  derived,  not  only  to 
the  scholars,  but  to  the  teachers. 

By  this  means,  his  schools  have  been  converted  into  Bible 
classes,  from  the  youngest  to  the  oldest  scholars.  His  plan  has 
been  adopted  with  success  by  some  of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry. 

He  has  always  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  the  general  super- 
vision of  his  schools,  and  for  the  last  two  years,  has  had  an  exer- 
cise of  his  own  with  the  children;  endeavoring  to  make  the  whole 
course  of  instruction  as  simple  and  as  practical  as  possible. 

The  institution  of  Sunday  Schools  is  a  most  blessed  charity, 
and  if  the  present  performance  shall  prove  in  any  way  conducive 
to  its  extension,  or  its  more  etiectual  operation,  the  author  will 
consider  himself  honored,  but  will  give  God  the  praise. 

Page  2.  No.  2008. 


A 

SEIIMON  FOM  CIIII^BREN. 


Come,  ye  children,  hearken  unto  me  ;  I  will  teach  you  the 
fear  of  the  Lord. 

ZAth  Psalm,  Wth  verse. 

I  AM  2:oing  to  preach  this  sermon  to  you,  little  children, 
and  therefore  I  ask  you  all  to  be  very  silent,  and  to  listen  to 
every  word  that  I  say.  I  will  try  to  make  it  very  plain,  so 
that  you  may  easily  understand  it ;  but  you  know  that  if  it 
is  never  so  plain,  you  cannot  understand  it  unless  you  are 
careful  to  listen. 

This  is  the  reason  why  the  text  begins  by  telling  you  to 
hearken;  for  to  hearken  means  to  hear — to  be  still  and  at- 
tentive, and  to  try  to  understand. 

This  I  am  sure  all  the  good  children  will  do;  all  those  v^'ho 
learn  their  lessons  well,  and  go  regularly  to  their  Sunday 
school  in  good  time,  and  behave  well  while  they  are  there, 
and  mind  all  that  their  teachers  bid  them  to  do. 

I  shall  think  you  are  all  such  good  children  if  I  see  you  all 
sitting  very  still,  and  listening  to  what  I  am  saying.  But  if 
I  see  any  little  girl  or  boy  misbehaving  or  not  listening,  then 
I  shall  be  afraid  that  that  is  a  bad  scholar  and  a  disobedient 
child :  and  I  dare  say  if  I  should  ask  your  teachers  they 
would  tell  me  that  I  was  right. 

I  have  told  you,  that  to  hearken,  means  to  hear  or  to  listen, 
so  now  I  will  repeat  the  text  to  you,  that  you  may  remember 
it  the  better — •■'  Come,  ye  children,  hearken  unto  me  ;  I  will 
teach  you  the  fear  of  the  Lord." 

But  some  children  may  think  it  very  strange  that  they 
should  be  preached  to  so  particularly,  I  must  Uierefore  first 
tell  them  the  reasons  for  doing  so. 

You  must  know  then,  that  children,  when  they  arc  baptized, 
are  made  members  of  the  Church,  as  much  as  ever  grown 
people  are.  They  are  brouglit  into  the  fold  of  Chrisi,  being 
dedicated  to  God  the  Father,  who  made  them  and  all  the 
world — to  God  the  Son,  who  redeemed  them  and  all  man- 
kind— and  to  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  sanctifieth  them  and 
all  the  people  of  God ;  and  therefore  not  only  their  parents, 


but  the  ministers  of  the  Church  also,  nre  bound  to  make  them 
know  their  duty  "  so  soon  as  they  shall  be  able  to  learn." 

Little  children  arc  the  lambs  of  the  flock  of  Christ  ;  and 
our  blessed  Saviour,  who  was  himself  the  good  Shepherd, 
and  who  laid  down  his  life  for  the  sheep,  gave  very  particular 
directions  when  he  was  on  earth,  to  one  of  his  apostles,  to 
"  feed  his  lambs." 

He  had  taught  his  ministers  as  much  as  this  before,  for 
when  some  persons  brought  little  ciiildren  to  him  that  he 
might  touch  them,  and  when  his  disciples  forbade  them,  and 
did  not  wish  to  let  them  come,  Jesus  was  much  displeased,  and 
said  unto  them,  "  Suifer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not  ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 

And  at  anotlier  time,  when  some  persons  asked  him,  "  Who 
is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?'"  he  called  a  little 
child  unto  him,  and  set  Ihm  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said, 
"  Verily  J  say  unto  you,  Except  ye  be  converted,  and  become 
as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,' 

Whenever  any  persons  are  found  who  are  disposed  to  learn, 
and  to  hear  instruction,  the  Bible  says,  "  God  speaketh  unto 
them  as  unto  children."  St.  Paul  also,  writinof  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  says,  "  Be  ye  therefore  followers  of  God  as  dear  chil- 
dren." And  because  true  Christians  are  humble,  and  of  a 
meek  and  quiet  spirit,  St.  John,  in  his  epistles,  often  calls 
them  "  little  children." 

When  you  see  that  our  Saviour  took  so  much  notice  of  little 
children — that  he  praised  and  loved  them — and  when  you  also 
see  "  how  he  exhorteth  all  men  to  follow  their  innocency,'' 
you  need  not  wonder  that  his  ministers -should  love  them,  and 
should  be  anxious  to  teach  them  too  ;  especially  wlien  they 
recollect  his  command,  whicli  I  mentioned  to  you  before,  that 
they  should  '•  feed  his  lambs" — -which  means  to  instruct  them, 
and  to  watch  over  them,  and  to  see  that  they  are  brought  up 
"  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord." 

Children  then  are  a  part  of  the  family — the  household — 
the  flock  of  Christ — they  are  inchided  among  the  number  of 
those  whom  he  hath  redeemed  with  his  most  precious  blood — 
and  are  bound  to  worship  and  gloriiy  God  here,  that  they 
may  enjoy  him  hsreal'ter  ;  and  the  proper  time  to  teach  them 
in  what  manner  they  are  to  "worship  and  glorify  God"  is 
while  they  are  young.  You  have  all  heard  what  the  wise  man 
said  on  this  subject.  He  did  not  say  that  parents  and  minis- 
ters should  wait  until  you  are  grown  up  before  they  tell  you 
your  duty  ;  but  he  said,  "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he 


should  go."  Train  him  up  while  he  is  a  child,  just  as  you  woul» 
train  a  vine  and  lead  it  in  the  manner  you  wish  to  have  i\ 
grow,  while  it  is  yet  tender — "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way 
ne  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it." 

And  to  show  how  necessary  this  training  or  teaching  is,  he 
says  in  another  place,  that  "  a  cliild  left  to  himself  bringeth 
his  mother  to  shame."  Now  only  think  how  bad  a  child  nmst 
be,  when  even  his  mother  is  ashamed  of  him  !  You  know 
that  mothers  are  so  good  and  so  affectionate  that  they  will 
love  their  children  even  when  every  body  else  dislikes  them. 
But  here  it  is  said,  that  if  a  child  is  left  to  himself,  he  will 
bring  even  his  mother  to  shame  !  And  I  am  sure  I  need  not 
tell  you,  that  whenever  a  child  becomes  so  bad,  every  one 
must  wish  to  avoid  him;  and  then, besides  making  his  mother 
unhappy,  he  must  make  himself  unhappy  too  ! 

It  is  to  prevent  all  this  misery  to  you  and  to  yoiir  parents, 
and  to  make  you  good  children,  so  that  you  may  be  an  honour, 
and  a  pride,  and  a  pleasure  to  your  parents,  that  so  much 
pains  is  taken  to  train  you  up  while  you  are  young,  to  instruct 
you  in  the  way  you  should  go,  to  bring  you  up  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 

The  words  "  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord"  mean  the 
same  as  teaching  the  knowledge  of  him,  and  impressing  that 
knowledge  on  the  mind :  and  "  to  train,"  means  to  catechise, 
(for  it  so  reads  in  the  margin  of  the  Bible,)  and  you  all  know 
how  careful  the  Church  has  been  to  provide  good  Catechisms, 
which  make  the  Bible  easy,  and  to  give  them  to  you :  and 
how  ready  your  ministers  are  to  instruct  you  in  them,  and 
hoM'^  much  they  desire  to  make  you  understand  them. 

Some  of  the  best  and  greatest  men  that  ever  lived,  have 
taken  pleasure  in  writing  Catechisms  for  little  children,  be- 
cause, like  their  blessed  Lord  and  Master,  they  loved  little 
children,  and  wished  to  see  them  made  happy  by  being  in- 
formed of  their  duty. 

Your  Catechisms  are  among  the  best  that  any  children  have 
ever  had  ;  and  to  make  them  suitable  for  all,  you  have  the 
"  Scripture  Catechism"  for  the  younger  children,  and  the 
'*  Church  Catechism"  in  the  Prayer  Book,  and  "the  Church 
Catechism  broke  into  short  Questions  and  Answers,  and 
enlarged  and  explained,"  and  proved  to  be  all  true,  and  taken 
out  of  the  Bible,  by  pointing  out  the  texts  where  every  part 
is  to  be  found.  And  in  addition  to  your  minister  and  youi 
parents,  you  have  your  good  Sunday  school  teachers,  who  are 
willing  to  assist  your  minister  and  your  parents  in  teachinn 
you  all  these  things. 


Now,  afler  telling  you  so  much,  to  show  that  it  is  right  for 
the  Church,  and  your  minister,  and  your  parents,  and  your 
Sunday  school  teachers,  to  take  pains  to  instruct  you  in  your 
duty,  I  think  you  will  see  that  it  is  right  sometimes  to  preach 
to  you  about  it  too,  and  especially  when  so  large  a  number  of 
children  are  collected  together  as  are  now  here  before  me. 

But  besides  all  this,  the  Bible  itself  preaches  to  little  chil- 
dren, for  it  says  in  one  place,  ''  Children,  obey  your  parents  in 
the  Lord,  for  this  is  ricfht;"  and  in  another  place,  as  if  to  re- 
prove those  boys  or  girls  who  only  mind  their  parents  in  some 
things,  and  disobey  them  in  others,  it  says,  '•  Children,  obey 
your  parents  171  all  tilings  /'  and  the  fifth  commandment,  which 
begins,  "Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother."  is  addressed 
chiefly  to  children,  and  so  too  are  many  other  places,  which  1 
would  beg  you  to  mark  whenever  you  find  them  in  readincr  youi 
Bibles  ;  and  get  them  by  heart,  and  be  careful  to  practise  them. 

in  the  book  of  Proverbs  you  will  find  the  wise  man  con- 
tinually saying,  "  ]My  son,"  do  this,  and,  '•  my  son,"  avoid 
that ;  and,  in  the  very  beginning  of  it,  it  says,  that  it  is  in- 
tended '•  to  teach  the  yoiai^  man  knowledge  and  discretion." 
A.nd  in  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  you  are  expressly  command 
ed  to  •■  Remember  your  Creator  in  the  days  of  your  youth." 

Well,  now  that  you  know  it  to  be  right  to  preach  to  children, 
and  that  we  preach  to  you  for  5'our  good,  I  must  go  on  and 
explain  the  text  to  you — ■•  Come,  ye  children,  hearken  unto 
me  ;  I  will  teach  you  tlie  fear  of  the  Lord." 

It  is  very  likely  that  some  of  you  will  think  you  would 
ratlier  not  hear  any  thing  about  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  One 
little  boy  may  say,  "  I  am  already  afraid  to  think  about  God, 
and  1  do  not  want  to  become  more  so." 

Now  this  is  one  of  the  very  reasons  why  I  wish  to  preach  to 
you  about  it;  for  you  must  know,  little  children,  that  the  text 
is  not  intended  to  make  you  afraid  of  the  Lord,  as  such  chil- 
dren seem  to  suppose.  The  Bible  teaches  us  to  love  God  ; 
and  our  Saviour  calls  this  the  first  and  great  commandment — 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind." 

The  fear  of  the  Lord  which  1  v.ish  to  teach  you.  is  a.  fear 
of  offending  him.  This  is  the  fear  of  which  the  Bible  speaks; 
and  indeed  the  way  in  which  3'ou  are  to  show  that  you  truly 
love  God.  is  by  being  afraid  to  disobey  hJs  comn:andments.  1 
hope  you  will  always  be  afraid  to  do  any  thing  which  his  word 
has  told  you  to  be  wrcaig,  or  to  neglect  what  you  know  to  be 
right;  but  you  ought  never  to  be  afraid  of  God  when  you  ara 


striving  to  do  what  he  commands,  and  to  please  him,  as  good 
children  should,  for  he  has  said,  ''  I  love  them  that  love  me  ;" 
and  in  order  to  encourage  you  to  serve  him  while  you  are 
yourtg,  he  has  given  ihe  promise,  "  they  that  seek  me  early 
shall  lind  me." 

The  fear- of  the  Lord  in  the  text  then  means,  a  revrence 
for  him  ;  a  respect  such  as  you  would  feel  towards  a  parent, 
or  any  person  whose  good  opuiion  you  wish  to  gain ;  and  this 
fear  always  includes  love  and  confidence,  and  a  desire  to  please 
him.  This  fear  of  the  Lord  is  that  holy  fear  which  religious 
people  have  for  him  ;  and  they  are  not  afraid  of  God,  because 
they  know  him  to  be  good  and  gracious,  and  they  believe  his 
promise,  that  he  loves  them  that  love  him.  It  is  only  wicked 
people,  or  those  who  neglect  religion,  that  are  afraid  of  God  ; 
and  they  may  well  be  so,  for  he  has  threatened  to  punish 
them  for  not  having  a  right  fear  of  him,  such  as  would  keep 
them  from  sinning  against  him. 

The  fear  of  the  Lord  then,  which  the  Bible  teaches,  is  a 
fear  of  doing  any  thing  that  is  wrong — any  thing  which  God 
would  dislike,  or  which  he  has  forbidden,  or  which  he  has 
threatened  to  punish;  and  it  implies  also  such  a  respect  for 
the  character  of  God,  such  a  belief  of  his  wisdom,  and  his 
power,  and  his  goodness,  as  would  make  "you  love  the  thing 
which  he  commands,  and  desire  that  which  he  doth  promise." 
You  can  yourselves  tell  whether  children  have  this  fear  of 
God  or  not.  If  you  were  to  hear  a  boy  saying  bad  words, 
swearing,  or  profaning  the  name  of  God,  when  you  know 
that  God  has  said  he  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh 
his  name  in  vain ;  would  you  not  say  at  once  '•  that  boy  has 
never  been  taught  the  fear  of  the  Lord  ?"  Or  if  you  saw  a 
girl  or  boy  answering  back  to  their  father  or  mother,  disobey- 
ing them  when  they  had  bid  them  do  any  thing,  and  perhaps 
mocking  them,  as  only  the  very  worst  children  in  the  world 
would  do,  when  God  has  said,  "■  Honour  thy  father  and  thy 
mother;"  "  Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things ;''  and 
when  his  word  has  threatened,  "  The  eye  that  mocketh  at 
his  father,  and  despiseth  to  obey  his  mother,  the  ravens  of  the 
valley  sliall  pick  it  out,  and  the  young  eagles  shall  eat  it;" 
would  you  not  say  that  tliat  child  also  had  nut  been  tauglit  the 
fear  of  the  Lord.''  and  would  you  not  say  the  same  thing  of 
those  that  profaned  the  Lord's  day,  when  the  commandment 
Bays,  "Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy;"  or  ot 
those  that  tell  wilful  falsehoods,  when  it  says  in  the  Bible, 
"  all  liars  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burneth  with 
fire  and  brimstone  ?" 


8 

Yes,  I  am  sure  you  would  say  of  all  such  as  wilfully  mis- 
behave, and  of  all  too  who  never  say  their  prayers  and  never 
read  God's  word,  "  there  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes;" 
and  you  would  think  too  that  they  had  never  been  at  a  Sun- 
day school,  where  children  are  taught  the  fear  of  the  Lord. 
But  I  must  tell  you  a  thing  which  I  am  almost  ashamed  to 
tell,  and  which  I  would  not  tell,  if  I  did  not  hope  it  would 
shame  the  bad  boy  to  whom  it  relates,  if  he  is  here,  or  any 
others  who  may  act  like  him. 

I  was  one  day  going  through  the  street,  and  heard  a  boy 
using  very  bad  language  to  another,  and  presently  he  began 
to  swear,  and  profane  the  most  holy  name  of  God.  I  was 
shocked,  and  thought  this  must  be  one  of  those  poor  children 
who  had  been  left  to  himself,  and  iiad  never  been  instructed. 
So  I  went  to  him,  and  asked  him  whether  he  had  ever  attend- 
ed a  Sunday  school.^  and  I  cannot  tell  you  how  he  surprised 
me  when  he  said  he  had,  and  that  he  belonged  to  one  of 
the  schools  now  before  me.  If  I  could  recollect  his  name  I 
would  think  it  right  to  tell  it  aloud  to  you  all :  for  what  can  be 
so  base  as  for  a  boy  who  goes  to  Sunday  school,  who  is  every 
Sunday  taught  to  reverence  God  and  not  to  take  his  name  in 
vain ;  who  repeats  the  commandments,  and  says  the  Cate- 
chism, yet  to  behave  so  wickedly :  Such  a  boy  may  perhaps 
learn  his  lessons  well,  but  that  only  makes  him  the  more 
guilty  for  not  minding  them  :  he  may  fear  his  teachers^  but 
ne  does  not  fear  God. 

If  there  were  many  such  cases,  I  should  be  sorry  that  your 
teachers  were  spending  so  much  of  their  time  to  no  purpose  ; 
but  it  is  only  now  and  then  we  meet  with  such  boys.  I  would 
perhaps  not  have  mentioned  this,  if  I  had  not  yesterday  fallen 
in  with  another  like  the  one  I  have  spoken  of.  I  am  glad  to 
tell  you  that  he  did  not  belong  to  any  of  our  schools. 

I  have  said  enough  to  show  you  what  is  meant  by  not  fear- 
ing the  Lord,  and  now  you  might  almost  understand  yourselves 
what  is  meant  by  the  text  when  it  says,  "  Come,  ye  children, 
and  hearken  unto  me ;  and  I  will  teach  you  the  fear  of  the 
Lord." 

I  hope  many  of  you  are  yourselves  examples  of  what  it 
means — that  you  have  learned  to  reverence  his  name — that 
you  read  his  holy  word,  desiring  to  know  how  you  ought  to 
live  to  please  him — that  you  keep  holy  his  sacred  day — that 
you  honour  your  parents,  and  love  your  brothers  and  sisters, 
and  say  your  prayers  to  God  for  them,  as  well  as  for  your- 
Belves,  every  morning  and  evening,  and  "  walk  in  his  fear  all 
the  day  long,"     This  is  what  is  meant  by  fearing  the  Lord; 


9 

and  this  fear  of  the  Lord  is  said  in  many  places  in  Scripture 
to  be  "  the  beginning  of  wisdom,"  and  I  will  give  you  two 
reasons  why  it  is  so. 

The  first  is,  that  it  will  make  you  respected,  and  beloved, 
and  happy,  in  this  life.  This  is  taught  you  in  every  part  of 
tlie  Bible,  and  I  am  sure  you  might  discover  the  same  thing 
by  looking  round  upon  the  world,  for  who  is  so  happy  as  he 
who  in  ah  his  actions  hates  what  God  hath  forbidden,  and 
does  what  he  hath  commanded,  who  avoids  all  strifes  and 
quarrels,  who  maintains  love  and  friendship  with  his  neigh- 
bours, who  •'  follows  peace  with  all  men,  and  holiness,  with- 
out which  no  ma,n  shall  see  the  Lord.'' 

If  you  do  so  you  will  gain  the  favour  of  men,  or  if  not 
you  will  still  be  suie  of  God's  protection,  and  that  is  enough; 
for  if  the  Lord  is  on  your  side,  you  need  not  fear  what  man 
can  do  to  you.  "  For  when  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord,  he 
maketh  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him." 

Thus  you  will  find  "the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  honour,  and 
glory,  and  gladness,  and  a  crown  of  rejoicing.  The  fear  of 
the  Lord  maketh  a  cheerful  heart,  and  giveth  joy  and  glad- 
ness, and  a  long  life."  Fear  the  Lord  then,  if  you  would  be 
truly  happy,  for  they  that  fear  him  lack  nothing.  *'  The 
lions  do  lack  and  suffer  hunger,  but  they  that  fear  the  Lord 
will  lack  no  manner  of  thing  that  is  good." 

"  As  for  the  ungodly,  it  is  not  so  with  them."  The  wicked 
person  has  no  real  friend  on  earth,  and  God  is  his  enemy ; 
"  for  the  countenance  of  the  Lord  is  against  them  that  do 
evil,  to  root  out  the  r enter abr arte e  of  them  from  the  earth. 
The  Lord  approveth  the  way  of  the  righteous,  but  the  way 
of  the  ungodly  shall  perish." 

Thus  you  see  that  if  you  wish  to  be  happy  even  here,  you 
must  be  good.  This  will  make  you  beloved  by  all  around 
you,  and  make  the  hearts  of  your  parents  to  rejoice  over  their 
child ;  and  if  they  should  die  while  you  are  yet  young,  you 
may  still  look  up  to  God  to  take  care  of  you,  and  say,  '■'  When 
my  father  and  my  mother  forsake  me,  the  Lord  taketh  me  up." 

The  first  reason  then  which  I  have  given  you,  why  this 
fear  of  the  Lord  about  which  I  have  spoken,  is  the  beginning 
of  wisdom,  is,  that  it  will  make  you  respected,  and  beloved, 
and  happy  in  this  life.  But  another  life  is  before  you  when 
this  is  past ;  and  this  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom  in  respect  of  that  also,  for  it  will  be  certain  to  make 
you  happy  hereafter.  Not  that  you  can  make  yourselves 
worthy  of  God's  favour,  so  as  to  demand  any  reward  from 


10 

him,  for  "  we  are  accounted  righteous  before  God,  only  for 

the  merit  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  by  faith,  and 
not  for  our  own  works  or  deservings ;"'  but  God  has  made 
great  promises  to  them  that  love  him  and  keep  his  command- 
ments. We  are  all  sinners  frcxn  the  youngest  to  tlie  oldest, 
and  we  have  reason  to  pray  God  to  have  mercy  upon  us  as 
offenders  against  him.  We  have  every  day  reason  to  sa}'-,  as 
we  do  in  our  prayers,  that  "  we  have  e^rred  and  strayed  from 
his  ways  like  lost  sheep — that  we  have  left  undone  those 
things  which  we  ought  to  have  done  ;  and  that  i\'e  have  done 
those  things  which  v»'e  ought  not  to  have  done  ;"  and  there- 
fore we  beg  him  "  not  to  deal  with  us  according  to  our  sins, 
neither  to  reward  us  according  to  our  iniquities." 

Now  it  is  your  privileo-e,  little  children,  to  know  that  God 
is  good  ;  that  though  we  have  sinned  against  him,  '■  there  is 
forgiveness  with  him,  that  he  may  be  feared  ;"  you  are  taught 
"  to  enter  into  his  gates  with  thanksgiving,  and  into  his  courts 
with  praise  ;"'  you  are  taught  '"to  be  thankful  unto  him,  and 
to  speak  good  of  his  name."  You  have  all  heard  that  beautiful 
collect  which  teaches  us  to  pray  to  God  as  him  that  '•'  hateth 
nothing  that  he  hath  made,  and  doth  forgive  the  sins  of  all 
those  that  are  penitent ;"  and  you  have  read  in  the  Bible, 
*'  that  God  so  loved  the  world  tliat  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life." 

When  our  blessed  Saviour  in  the  fulness  of  time  came  into 
the  world  to  die  for  sinners  according  to  the  Scriptures,  he 
was  very  careful  to  impress  this  lesson,  that  God  was  good ; 
and  in  that  prayer  which  we  call  the  Lord's  prayer,  because 
we  received  it  from  him.  he  instructed  us  to  look  up  to  that 

freat  Being  who  dwelleth  in  heaven,  and  to  call  him  "  our 
'ather  " — '■  Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven;"  and  because  he 
knew  how  weak  we  are  of  ourselves,  and  how  unable  to  serve 
him  as  we  ought,  he  promised  to  send  his  Holy  Spirit,  that 
Spirit  which  will  put  into  our  minds  good  desires,  and  enable 
us  to  bring  them  to  good  effect ;  and  to  encourage  you  to 
pray  for  his  assistance,  he  lias  assured  you.  that  if  your  earthly 
fathers  "  will  give  sfood  D-ifls  unto  their  children,  much  more 
will  your  Father  who  is'  in  heaven  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
them  that  ask  him."  If  then,  little  children,  you  are  willing 
to  be  taught  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  if  you  pray  to  him,  he 
will  give  you  that  Holy  Spirit ;  and  if  you  sincerely  obey  its 
influences,  you  will  find  tliat  his  "  grace  is  sufficient  for  you; 
his  strength  will  be  made  perfect  in  your  weakness ;"  he  will 
"  guide  you  with  his  counsel  while  you  live,  and  after  that 


11 

receive  you  into  glory."  Jesus  Christ,  your  blessed  Saviour, 
when  he  had  sutfered  the  sliarpnSss  of  death,  opened  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  to  all  believers.  He  has  risen  from  the 
dead,  the  tirst-fruits  of  them  that  slept ;  and  is  noAv  ascended 
unto  his  Father  and  your  Father,  to  his  God  and  your  God  ; 
and  he  has  given  his  promise  to  them  that  love  and  obey 
him,  that  because  he  lives,  they  shall  live  also — that  they 
shall  be  with  him  where  he  is  to  behold  his  glory. 

You  see  that  if  you  are  good,  and  put  your  trust  in  him, 
you  need  not  fear  to  die  whenever  God  pleases  to  call  you 
out  of  this  world.  You  shall  •'  walk  through  the  vallej^  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  and  fear  no  evil ;"  for  your  Savicir, 
who  lias  promised  that  he  will  come  and  receive  you  u'^to 
himself,  will  support  and  defend  you.  This,  then,  is  the 
second  reason  why  you  should  fear  the  Lord.  "  Whoso 
feareth  the  Lord,  it  shall  go  well  with  him  at  the  last,  and  he 
Bhall  find  favour  in  the  day  of  his  death." 

Now  I  have  told  you  what  "  the  fear  of  the  Lord"  means  ; 
and  I  have  given  you  two  reasons  why  it  is  "  the  beginning 
of  wisdom."  The  first  is,  that  it  will  make  you  happy  iji  this 
life  ;  the  second,  that  it  will  make  you  happy  in  the  jiext. 

Recollect  then  it  is  never  too  soon  to  begin  to  be  trul}^  wise, 
any  more  than  it  can  be  too  soon  to  begin  to  be  truly  happy. 
Besides  tnis,  you  may  die  while  you  are  young  ;  and  only 
think  what  it  must  be  to  be  afraid  to  die,  as  all  wicked  children 
surely  must.  But  if  you  fear  God  while  you  live,  you  will 
not  be  afraid  of  him  when  you  come  to  die.  Tliis  we  Icnoic, 
for  every  year  some  of  the  children  of  our  Sunday  schools 
die,  and  when  they  have  been  good  children,  it  delights  us  to 
hear  how  willing  they  were  to  go  to  God — how  they  thanked 
their  kind  instructors  for  teachin*  them  the  fear  of  the  Lord — 
how  they  trusted  in  his  promises,  and  believing  in  the  merits 
of  Him  who  redeemed  them  by  nis  blood,  and  sanctified  them 
by  his  grace,  did  not  fear  to  die — how  they  consoled  their 
parents  and  friends,  by  telling  them  not  to  weep  for  them, 
for  that  they  knew  they  were  going  to  be  happy  v/ith  God ! 

These  are  the  blessed  consequences  of  learning  '■'•  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,''  and  doing  his  will.  1  hope  and  pray  that  you 
all  will  fear  and  obey  him,  and  therefore,!  shall  close  my 
sermon,  in  the  words  of  St.  John — "  And  now,  little  children, 
ooide  in  him,  that  when  he  shall  appear,  ye  may  have  coa- 
fidence,  and  not  be  ashamed  before  him  at  his  coming." 


Bmutiful  Books, 

PUBLISHED    BY 

THE    GENERAL    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPXl, 
SUNDAY    SCHOOL    UNION. 

Depository  20  John  Street,  New  York. 


Qllje  (Hombataiits. 

Just  Published, 
With  beautifiU  Engravings fro7ii  Designs  by  Darleij. 

"  '  The  Combat-ants'  is,  perliaps,  the  best  of  the 
series  of  allegorical  portraitures  of  the  Christian 
life  which  has  lately  issued  from  Mr.  ^lonro's 
pen.  An  allegory,  to  be  of  any  use,  should  prac- 
tically enforce  a  lesson,  the  theoretical  truth  of 
which  is  as  Avidel}^  indisputable  as  possible.  And 
Mr.  Monro,  like  Mr.  Adams,  has  certainly  in  all 
cases  followed  with  more  or  less  closeness  this 
general  rule  :  and,  in  the  present,  wherein  the 
groat  and  universal  truth  of  the  militant  cliarac- 
ter  of  the  Christian  life  on  earth  is  well  and  for- 
cibly illustrated,  he  is  (juite  free  from  one  slight- 
est infraction  of  it.  Moreover,  there  are  pas- 
sages in  '  The  Combatants,'  that  call  up,  though 
in  a  less  degree,  similar  feelings  to  those  with 


2  BEAUTIFUL    PUBLICATIONS 

which  we  read  '-  The  Old  Man's  Home.'  There 
is  more  than  one  scene  in  the  allegory,  particularly 
the  closing  scenes  of  the  lives  of  the  imaginary 
combatants,  in  which  we  fancy  that  we  hear  the 
writer  speak  what  he  has  seen  and  heard  and 
known,  and  not  the  mere  speculations  of  his  fancy  ; 
and  on  this  account  we  think  that  this  little  story 
bears  the  palm  over  any  of  those,  by  the  same 
author,  which  have  preceded  it." 

London   Guardian. 


ffilje  Park  Hber. 

AN   ALLEGORY   BY    THE    REV.    EDWARD   MONRO. 

With  beautiful  Engrav ings from  Designs  by  Cliapruan. 

"  This  is  a  beautiful  book,  and  calculated  to 
make   a   deep  impression   on   the  minds  of  tho 
young.     The  allegory  is  admirably  sustained,  and 
the  application  most  touching  and  pathetic." 
Young  Churchman^  Mlstellany. 

'•  This  is  one  of  the  best  religious  allegories 
which  we  have  seen." 

True  Catholic. 

'•  The  conversational  and  narrative  parts  are 
happily  intermingled,  and  it  will  be  found  both 
suggestive  and  impressive." 

Literary  World. 


OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  UNION,        6 

ffilje  Kind's  Mtssm^n's. 

BY   THE   ATTTHOR   OF   THE    OLD   MAN'S   HOME. 

With  beautiful  Engravings  from  Designs  by  Weir, 

''  The  design  of  this  allegory  is,  to  illustrate 
the  Christian  sentiment  of  '  stewardship.'  In 
the  city  of  Moeticia,  lying  west  of  the  dominions 
of  the  G-reat  King,  were  four  brothers — Philar- 
gyr,  Megacles,  Euprepes,  and  Sophron  ;  imper- 
sonations of  Avarice,  Fame,  Ostentation,  and 
Heavenly  Wisdom.  The  allegorical  representa- 
tions by  which  these  moral  qualities  pass  before 
us  are  ingeniously  sustained,  and  the  final  end  of 
each  impressively  described.  The  '  King's  Mes- 
sengers' are  the  calls  of  Charity.  We  think  this 
the  most  ingenious  of  Mr.  Adams'  Allegories. 
The  engravings  are  from  original  designs,  and 
the  whole  execution  of  the  work  is  far  in  advance 
of  the  London  edition." 

Church  Review. 

"  This  book,  like  many  other  publications  of 
the  General  Prot.  Epis.  Sunday  School  Union,  is 
adapted  to  the  wants  and  tastes  of  adults  as  well 
as  children.  It  is  inimitably  excellent.  It 
can  interest  even  the  thoughtless,  and  none 
but  the  desperately  perverse  can  rise  from  the  pe- 
rusal of  it  without  being  improved  ;  it  aims  sim- 
ply at  illustrating  and  enforcing  the  memorable 


4  BEAUTIFUL    PUBLICATIONS 

injunction  of  our  Lord,  '■  Lay  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  in  Heaven  ;"  and  it  accomplishes  its 
purpose  in  a  way  at  once  excellent  and  captivat- 
ing. It  is  an  allegory  of  a  very  unostentatious 
plan,  so  clearly  and  happily  sustained,  that  from 
first  to  last  it  has  all  the  effect  of  a  captivating 
tale,  and  at  the  same  time,  keeps  the  attention  of 
the  reader  constantly  fixed  upon  the  moral  it  in- 
culcates." 

Evergreen. 

-'  This  Allegory  (alas,  that  it  is  the  last  of  its 
excellent  author)  is  designed  to  inculcate  the 
Christian  duties  of  alms-giving,  and  of  kindness 
to  the  poor  ;  incidentally,  contempt  of  the  world, 
and  the  cultivation  of  a  love  for  heavenly  things, 
are  also  taught. 

*****  We  recommend  earnestly 
to  all  who  have  the  care  of  children,  to  make 
them  acquainted  with  it ;  and  will  merely  remark, 
that,  while  there  is  nothing,  whatever,  in  the  book 
to  which  the  most  fastidious  Churchman  could 
not  readily  subscribe,  or  which  he  would  not  be 
anxious  that  his  little  ones  should  learn,  there  is 
also  nothing  which  could  render  a  Christian  of 
any  other  class  unwilling  to  put  it  into  the  hands 
of  his  children." 

Tribe  Catholic 


OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  UNION.         5 

"  This  is  in  appearance  a  most  attractive  book, 
SO  far  as  cliaste  and  beautiful  binding,  excellent 
printing,  and  appropriate  and  finely  executed  il- 
lustrations can  make  it  so.  Of  its  contents  we  need 
hardly  speak  to  those  who  are  acquainted  with 
its  author's  otlier  writings.  ****** 
******  We  commend  it  as  a  sound, 
practical  work,  adapted  to  the  understanding  of 
children,  and  conveying  most  important  lessons 
in  a  manner  likely  to  secure  attention,  and  to 
make  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  the  young 
heart." 

Banner  of  the  Cross. 


Qllje  CDllr  iilan'0  Qome. 

BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF  SACRED  ALLEGORIES. 

With  beautiful  Engravings,,  from  Designs  by   Weir. 

"  This  is  a  narrative  of  an  •  Old  man'  of  ninety 
six  years,  whom  the  writer  firot  meets  in  a  roman- 
tic dell  on  the  coast  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  in 
whose  mind  the  one  all-engrossing  thought,  which 
took  complete  possession  of  every  feeling  and 
sympathy  of  his  nature,  was  that  of  his  final  Home. 
His  residence  in  the  asylum  for  half  a  century, 
his  literal  interpretation  of  the  precepts  and 
promises  of  God's  Holy  Word,  his  reputed  insan- 
ity, his  allegorical  conversation,  his  attachment  to 
•  little  Annie,'  his  past  history  and  bereavements, 


b  BEAUTIFUL    PUBLICO TFONS 

hi-s  death,  and  his  resting-plaoe  in  the  cLuroh-yard, 
are  incidents  which  the  gifted  author  has  woven 
into  a  stor}'.  told  with  great  simplicity  and  eliect. 
The  illustrations  of  the  engraver  are  as  taste- 
fully executed  as  the  designs  (which  are  orlgiiial 
with  the  Union)  are  happily  conceived.  We  are 
not  surprised  at  the  popularity  of  3Ir.  Adams' 
books." 

Church    'Review. 

"  This  is  a  touching  tale  of  an  Old  man  crazed 
by  domestic  bereavement,  who  recovers  hisintellect 
so  far  as  to  grasp  the  idea.,  that  he  is  journeying 
to  his  Home  to  rejoin  his  lost  wife  and  children, 
and  to  grasp  firmly  no  other  idea.  If  it  is  not 
true,  there  is  an  air  of  truth  about  it.  which  is 
unequalled  except  by  De  Foe.  But  whether  truth 
or  fiction,  it  is  one  of  the  most  instructive  little 
books  we  know  of,  and  one  to  the  tendencies  of 
which  we  can  give  the  most  unreserved  recom- 
mendation." 

True,  Catholic. 

"  The  Old  Man\s  Home  is  by  the  author  of 
'  The  Shadow  of  the  Cross,'  and  may  well  take 
place  by  its  side  as  a  companion  volume.  The 
title  plainly  indicates  the  subject.  Devoid  of  the 
slightest  approach  to  rant  or  turgidity,  the  touch- 
ing and  simple  story  is  told  with  much  purity 


OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  UNION.         7 

and  grace  of  ?tyle  :  and  the  interest  whicli  is  early 
excited  is  sustained  without  flagging  to  the  very 
last  page.  Let  a  book  like  this  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  a  child,  and  we  have  no  fear  of  the  re- 
sult." 

Literary  World. 


Saci'Di)  Allegories. 

SCDe  <S|)atioh)  of  t!ic  ©ross. 
Silje  Bfstant  ?9iUs. 

BY   THE   REV.    WILLIAM   ADAMS,   M.A. 

With  beautiful  Engravings  from  Designs  by  Chapman. 

"  These  are  among  the  most  suitable  presents 
for  the  approaching  festival,  which  Christian 
parents  or  friends  can  select  for  their  children. 
The  only  allegories  which  we  think  entitled  to  be 
compared  with  them  are  the  '  Pilgrim's  Progress' 
and  those  of  Archdeacon  Wilberforce.  While 
the  mixture  of  an  erroneous  theology  checks  our 
admiration  of  the  in  some  respects  unrivalled 
work  of  Bunyan,  there  is  no  drawback  of  that 
kind  from  those  of  Wilberforce  or  Adams.  The 
allegories  immediately  before  us  are  brought  into 
a  small  compass,  and  will  be  easily  understood  by 
all  but  very  young  children.  The  printing  and 
general  getting  up  of  the  books  is  worthy  of  the 


8  BEAUTIFUL    PUBLICATIONS 

books  themselves,  and  the  illustrations  which 
have  been  added  to  the  American  edition  are  in 
the  best  style  of  American  art.  We  cheerfully 
give  to  these  books  the  very  highest  commenda- 
tion." 

True  Catholic. 

"  This  volume  contains  •  The  Shadow  of  the 
Cross'  and  'The  Distant  Hills.'  Not  long  ago, 
as  we  lay  on  a  sick  bed,  the  '  Shadow  of  the  Cross' 
was  read  to  us,  and  we  thought,  at  the  time,  that 
there  could  be  nothing  more  beautiful  or  more 
affecting.  This  impression  has  never  since  been 
effaced  ;  and  we  regard  these  allegories  as  worthy 
of  a  place  in  every  family  and  every  Sunday 
school  library."     ***** 

Young  Churchman! s  Miscellany. 

"  Written  in  simple,  earnest  language,  free 
from  affectation  or  attempt  at  fine  writing,  they 
also  possess  much  narrative  interest,  and  no  small 
degree  of  descriptive  power.  Such  qualities  ren- 
der it  an  eligible  work  to  put  into  the  hands  of 
children.  The  wood  engravings  are  unusually 
well  executed,  from  the  elegant  designs  of  Chap- 
man ;  they  are  charming  specimens  of  the  art. 
The  paper,  print,  and  binding  are  all  of  good 
quality,  and  show  that  good  taste  and  good  judg- 
ment have  presided  over  the  mechanical  as  well 
as  the  intellectual  department." 

Literary  World 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE  GEN.  PROT.  EPIS.  S.  SCHOOL  UNION. 

DEPOSITORY   20   JOHN  STREET,  NEW  YORK, 

DANIEL  DANA,  JR.  AGENT. 

BOOKS  OF  OBSTRUCTION,  AT  REDUCED  PRICES. 

The  Union  Priiner,  .  .       per  hundred.    $  2  00 

Protestant  Episcopal  S.  S.  Book,  No.  1,      .  .      1  25 

2,  .  1  50 

3,  .  .      1  75 
'\              "                    "                 4,            .  3  50 

Questions  on  the  Sunday  School  Books,      .            .  4  00 
Catechism  No.  1,  {Scripture  Catechism,)          .  1  25 
Catechism  No.  2,  {Catechism  broken  into  short  Ques- 
tions and  Answers,)           .            .            •  2  00 
Catechism  No.  3,  {Catechism  evlarged  by  Bishop  Ho- 

bart,)  stiff  covers,              .            .            .  6  00 
Catechism  No.  4,  {Catechism  of  the  History  of  our 

Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,)              .  4  00 

Beaven's  Help  to  Catechising,            .            .            .  6  00 

Lloyd's  Catechism  on  the  Evidences  of  the  Bible,  2  50 

Church  Catechism,       .            .            .            .            .  1  00 

First  Truths,         ...                       .  2  00 

Duty  to  God,     ......  50 

Church  Primer,     .           .           .            .           .  1  25 

Easy  Questions  for  a  little  Child,      .           .           .  2  00 

Sunday  School  Office  of  Devotion,        .            .  1  75 

Sunday  School  Psalms  and  Hymns,              .            .  5  00 
Sunday  School  Liturgy  and  Psalms  and  Hymns,  stiff 

covers     .            .            .            .            .            .  6  00 

Manual  of  Short  Prayers  for  Children,  .           .  1  50 

Harmony  of  the  Creeds,         .           .           .           .  2  00 

Questions  on  Book  of  Common  Prayer,            .  2  00 

Collects,  from  the  Prayer  Book,        .            .           .  1  50 

Questions  on  the  Collects,  stiff  covers,  .            .  6  00 

Catechism  on  the  Collects,  half  bound,          .            .  20  00 

Epistles  and  Gospels  from  Prayer  Book,            .  6  00 
Questions  on  Epistles  and  Gospels,  Parts  1  and  2,  stiff 

covers,    .            .            .            .            .            .  8  00 

Manual  of  Oral  Instruction  upon  the  Bible,              .  2  00 

Bible  Companion,  Vol.  1,  Old  Testament,         .  18  00 

"      2,  New,        "            .            .  20  00 

Questions  on  St.  Matthew,  Part  I,  stiff  covers,  6  00 

n,          "     .           .  6  00 

III,          "          .  6  00 

Questions  on  The  Acts,       Part  I,         "     .           .  6  00 

II,         "         .  6  00 

ni,       "    .        .    5  00 


LIBRARY   BOOKS. 

Arabian  Martyr,            ....  cts.      9 
Adorning  of  Good  "Works,       ....          9 

Anniversary  Sermons,  by  Duffie  and  Bayard,       .  10 

Anniversary  Book,               ....  10 

Adversity  a  Blessing,    .            .            .            .  .10 

Alan  Gilbert's  Last  Birth-day,        ...  21 

Agathos,  and  other  Sunday  Stories,    .            .  .30 

Bee  Hive  Cottage,   .....  9 

Boy  who  Loved  the  Bible,  .  .  _  .  9 
Blind  :Man  and  Little  George,  and  I  can  do  Without  it,  10 
Barnabas  Hill,  . 
Beatitudes.  (The^ 


Blossoms  of  Childhood, 

Botany  of  the  Scriptures,    ....  35 

Blessings  of  Providence,  .  .  .  .30 

Caskets,  (The)         .....  9 

Crooked  Paths,              .....  9 

Convenient  Food,          .....  10 

Children  of  Hazlewood  School,     ...  12 

Castle  on  the  Rock,       ......  15 

Cripple  of  the  Rail  Road,   ....  15 

Child  of  the  Church,            ....  18 

Conversations  between  a  Mother  and  her  Daughter,  26 
Conversations  on  the  Lives  and  Writings  of  the  Evan- 

geUsts  and  Apostles,_      .  ,  .  .26 

Commandment  with  Promise,       ...  35 

Children's  Magazine,    .            .          17  volumes,  each,  40 

The  Same,  in  34  Half  Yearly  Volumes,      each,  23 
Dialogues  on  Attending  Church,  and  Bishop  Hobart's 

Address  to  a  Sunday  School,           .            .  10 
Death  of  John  Baptist,             .        _    .            .            .10 

Dialogues  at  Woodvale  about  Missions,   .            .  20 

Duffie's  Sermons,     .....  21 

Dark  River,  (The)        .....  30 

An  Elegant  Edition,  on  large  paper,  fine  muslin,  62 

Distant  Hills,  (The)      .            .            .            .  _         • .  62 

An  Elegant  Illustrated  Book,  not  yet  issued  in 
Library  Style. 
Ellen's  Visit  to  the  Shepherd,  , .  .  .10 

Edward  Trueman,  or  False  Impressions,             .  18 
Edwin,  or  the  Motherless  Boy,           .           .           .28 

Fear  of  the  LoKD,    .....  9 

Faithful  Little  Girl, 10 

Faithful  Dogs,          .....  10 

Floods,  (The) 10 

Fisherman's  Hut,     .....  12 

Fidelis,  The  Soldier  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,           .  12 


LIBRARY  BOOKS. 


Farmer's  Narrative  of  his  Conversion,  .  cts. 

Fall  of  Crcesus,         ..... 
First  Day  of  the  Week,  .... 

Francis  Lucas,        ..... 
Festivals  and  Fasts  of  the  Church  for  Young  Persons, 
Family  Visiter,        .  .  3  vols.  12  mo.,  each. 

Gardener's  Daughter,   ..... 
Guilty  Tongue,         ..... 
Honest  Penny,  (An)     ..... 
Happy  Death,  ..... 

Humble  Reformer,        ..... 
Holy  Child  Jesus,    ..... 
Holy  Child  of  Nazareth,  .... 

Harvest  Home,         .  .       _     . 

History  of  Our  Blessed  Lord,  in  Easy  Verse, 

An  Elegant  Edition  of  this  Book,  on  large  and 

thick  paper,  with  6  Beautiful   Lithographic 

Illustrations,  in  muslin,    . 
Harry  Williams, 
House  of  the  Thief, 
It  will  Never  be  Found  Out,    . 
Infant  Brother, 

James  Ford,  The  Heedless  Boy, 
John  Pascal  and  Henry  Marshall, 
James  Talbot,    . 
James  Haswell, 
Jessamine  Cottage, 
Joseph  and  His  Brethren,   .... 
Juvenile  Repository,    .  .  .3  vols.,  each. 

Vol.  IV. 
Juvenile  Library,    .  .6  vols.  32mo.,  each. 

Journal  of  Christian  Education,    4  vols.  8  vo.,  each,  1 
Kind  Father's  Advice,         .... 
Lost  Child,  (The) 
Little  Beggars,  (The) 
Little  Flora,       . 
Little  Foundling, 
Loss  of  the  Kent, 
Lectures  for  Children, 
Little  Mary's  Trouble, 
Little  Sophy,     . 
Laundry  Maid, 
Last  Day  of  the  Week, 
Letters  to  Sunday  Scholars, 
Lectures  on  the  Catechism,     . 
Memory, 
Miller's  Daughter,   . 


LIBRARY  BOOKS. 


My  Bible  and  }ly  Calling, 

McEUen  Family, 

Memoir  of  Sarah  E.  D. 

Matthew  and  Francis  Preston, 

Mary  Grant, 

Monument  of  Parental  Affection, 

Memory's  Tribute, 

Marten  and  His  Scholars,   . 

IMeeting  of  the  Travellers, 

Morning  Improved,  Vol.  1. 

Morning  Improved,  Vol.  2. 

My  Station  and  Its  Duties, 

McEllen  Tracts, 

Noise,  (The) 

Neale's  Emblems, 

Orphan  Boy  and  Procrastination, 

Orphan  Rachel, 

Proper  Spirit, 

Pastoral  Letter  and  Voice  from  the  Dead, 

Plan  of  Salvation,    . 

Philip  and  His  Garden, 

Present  far  Sunday  Scholars, 

Premium,  (The)  and  The  Two  Servants, 

Pattv  and  Jane,        .... 

Pinlc  Tippet, 

Palestine  and  Lebanon,  (Three  Weeks  in) 

Patrick's  Book  for  Beginners, 

Rushbearing,  (The) 

Remembrances  of  Scotland,     . 

Rector's  Visits,  on  the  Lord's  Prayer, 

Runaway,  (The) 

Recollections  of  a  Beloved  Sister, 

Sunday  School  Teachers, 

Seeds  of  Greediness, 

Soldier's  Grave, 

Star,  (The)  . 

Sundays  at  Home, 

School  Dialogues,    . 

Spiritual  Vegetation, 

Scripture  Language, 

Stray  Child, 

Savioup.'s  Example,  (The) 

Seed  Time  and  Harvest, 

Sarah  Wolston, 

Simple  Flower, 

Soldier's  Daughter, 

Scripture  History* 


LIBRARY  BOOKS. 


Susan  Harvey,  .     _       .  .  .    cts. 

Sunday  School  Memorials,       .... 

Sacred  History,  Old  Testament,    . 
"  "  New  Testament, 

Shadow  of  the  Cross,  .... 

An  Eiegantly  Illustrated  Book,  not  yet  issued  in 
Library  Siyle. 
Sermons  to  Children,  2  vols.    .... 

Sketches  and  Stories  for  Young  Children,  32mo.,fine 
mushn,     ...... 

4  vols.  12mo.,  each. 


52 

25 

Sunday  School  Visiter,       .           4  vols.  12mo.,  each,  75 

Two  FamiUes,  ......  9 

Thief  Reclaimed,    .....  9 

Translation  of  Elijah,  .....  10 

Travelling  Beggars,             ....  10 

Two  Carpenters,           .....  14 

Treatise  on  Prayer,             ....  22 

Verse  Book,       ......  10 

Visit,  (The) 10 

ViUage,  (The) 16 

Visits  to  Aunt  Clement,      .           .           •           .  27 

Visit  to  Nahant,            .....  30 

"Wisdom  in  Youth,  .....  9 

WiUirim  and  Susan,      .....  10 

Whit  IS  Liberty'? 12 

Widow  Gray,  .             .....  12 

Way  of  Peace,        .....  15 

Week  Completed, 18 

Wonders  of  the  Deep,         ....  21 
Week  in  the  New  Year,          .           .           .           .25 

Workhouse,  (The)              ....  25 

Week,  (The) 36 

Winter's  Tale,  (The)          ....  25 
Yes  and  No,  and  the  Swan,      .           .                       .10 

Young  Prophet,        .....  10 
Young  Christian's  Pocket  Book,         .           .           .18 

Many  of  the  Books  in  this  List  are  also  furnished  in  fin© 
muslin,  gilt,  at  an  advance  of  4  a  8  cents  in  the  price. 


-.^         — -~ — ^ ^^w^ 

BEAUTIFUL  BOCKS,  g 

f  PUBLISHED  BY  THE  GEN.  PROT.  EFIS.  S.  SCHOOL  UNION,  ^^ 
Depository  20  Jobiii  St.  N.  Y. 

THE 

B1LIE§§]IK[(B©  m  IPIEOTIIIO)IiH€Ii. 


A    TALE    OF   THE   OLDEN    TIME, 
FOR   CHILDREN 


BEAUTIFUL  BOOKS, 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  GEN.  PROT.  EPIS.  S.  SCHOOL  UNION, 

Depository  20  John  St.  N.  Y. 


THE  HISTORY  OF 


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